224 Pa. 298 | Pa. | 1909
Opinion by
This contest is over the proceeds of a beneficial certificate issued by the Police Beneficiary Association, of the city of Philadelphia, to James Noble, one of its members. On April 20, 1907, it issued a certificate to him, in which Margery E. Dittmer, his sister, was named as the beneficiary. He retained this certificate in his possession until December 23, 1907, when he surrendered it to the association, and, on his application for another in lieu of it, the one under which the appellee, his widow, claims, was issued to him. In this she is named as the beneficiary. He died January 22,1908, and suits were brought against the association by his widow and sister, each claiming the fund. The association was ready to pay it to the one entitled to receive it, and, disclaiming all interest in it, leave was granted to pay it into court. There being no disputed facts, a rule to show cause why it should not be paid to Annie M. Noble, the widow, was made absolute. From this the sister has appealed, her ground of complaint being that the certificate naming the wife as the beneficiary was invalid as against the one in which she had been named as beneficiary, because issued in violation of a provision of a by-law of the associa
A beneficiary named in a certificate or policy issued by a beneficial association acquires no vested interest in it, nor a right to anything, during the lifetime of the member to whom it is issued, but merely an expectancy, which does not become a vested or absolute right to the proceeds of the certificate or policy until the death of the assured: Fischer to use v. American Legion of Honor, 168 Pa. 279; Brown v. Ancient Order of United Workmen, 208 Pa. 101; Supreme Conclave, Royal Adelphia, v. Cappella et ah, 41 Fed. Repr. 1. In this latter case it was said by Brown, Circuit Justice: “ In case of an ordinary policy, the right of the person for whose benefit a policy is issued cannot be defeated by the separate or joint acts of the assured and the company, without the consent of the beneficiary (Bliss, Ins., sec. 318); while it is entirely well settled that in cases of this description the beneficiary has no vested interest in the benefit certificate until the death of the insured member.” During the lifetime of a member of a beneficial association to whom a beneficial certificate is issued the beneficiary named in it is a mere volunteer, having no contractual relations either with the association or the assured. The contract is between the association and its member alone. The first contract between Noble and the Police Beneficiary Association was for the payment to Margery E. Dittmer, upon his death, of the amount of the assessments collected from the members, provided that at the time of his death he should be a member in good standing and she continued to be his designated beneficiary. He might at any time have- allowed the
The appellant having no right or interest of any kind which the association was bound to regard at the time it accepted from Noble the first policy issued to him and issued the second, the order of the court below is affirmed.