114 Mo. App. 283 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1905
(after stating the facts). — 1. We quote the following from appellant’s brief:
“Appellant contends, that as respondent agreed in his application that he would ‘abide by the constitution, rules and regulations of the company, as they now are or may be constitutionally changed hereafter,’ and inasmuch as it was provided in respondent’s policy ‘that the constitution and by-laws printed on the back of the policy shall separately and collectively form and be a part of this contract,’ and as the constitution and by-laws provided for their own change or amendment, thereby providing that the contract itself might be changed or amended, it has not violated respondent’s rights.
“Appellant also contends that as respondent’s policy, instead of being one for $3,000, is one for the ‘sum of three thousand dollars, and all the money paid on the policy in assessments,’ and as his beneficiary would be entitled, at his death, not only to $3,000, but to ‘all the money paid on the policy in assessments,’ respondent should be assessed, on the death of each member, not only on $3,000, but in addition thereto, on the sum of all assessments paid on the policy.
“Respondent sues in this action to recover the amount of said assessments claimed to have been in excess of $2.55 per thousand.”
That the constitution and by-laws printed on the
In the case of Morton v. Supreme Council, supra, at pages 91-2, it is said: “But there are numerous well-considered opinions in which it is ruled that subsequent by-laws undertaking to reduce the amount to be paid in
In the case of Richmond v. Supreme Lodge, 100 Mo. App. 8, cited and relied on by appellant, the policy was not for a definite and certain sum to become due on the death of the member, but for such sum, not exceeding two thousand dollars, as might be determined by the charter, constitution, laws, rules and regulations in force at the time the policy became payable; it was held that the certificate of insurance .contemplated that the order might at any time change its by-laws, etc., so as to affect the amount of insurance to be paid on the death of the member, and that the member agreed in advance to be bound by such changes.
The cases of Morton v. Royal Tribe of Joseph, 93 Mo. App. 78; Brower v. Supreme Lodge, 74 Mo. App. 490, and the State ex rel. v. Grand Lodge A. O. U. W., 70 Mo. App. 456, cited and relied on by appellant, have
“And in further consideration that the said Erasmus D. Pearson shall pay all dues and assessments made upon him as such member, in pursuance of the constitution and by-laws of said company at the time and in the manner required of him, the said company will pay, at their principal office, within sixty days after notice and satisfactory proof of the death of said member is fur
The section of the constitution referred to and indorsed on the back of the policy is as follows:
“Article 7, section 1. — Benefits.—Upon due notice and satisfactory proof of a death of a member of this company, the board of directors shall, within sixty days, pay the widow, children or heirs of the deceased member (and in the order named unless otherwise ordered by the member during his lifetime or in will) the amount set forth in the deceased member’s policy of membership. Provided that a policy of membership for $5,000 shall be good for all the money in the death fund arising from one assessment, provided it shall not exceed $5,000 and all the money paid on the policy in assessment; and a certificate for $4,000 shall be good for four:fifths of all the money in the death fund arising from one assessment, provided it shall not exceed $4,000 and all the money paid on the policy in assessment; and so on in the same proportion as to all certificates.”
Section 3, article 4, of the constitution (indorsed on the back of the policy) provides: “Policies of membership may be issued upon a basis of benefits ranging in amounts to five thousand dollars and all the money paid in assessments upon the policy, but no member shall hold more than one policy at the same time.” By section 4 (assessment rate section) of the same article,
We think it clearly appears, both on the face of the policy and from section 3, article.4, of the constitution, that the company agreed at the death of respondent to pay his beneficiary three thousand dollars, the face of the policy, and all the moneys paid in by respondent upon assessments.
In Knight Templars & Masons Life Indemnity Company (this company) v. Jarman, 104 Fed. Cir. Ct. Rep. l. c. 643, this construction was put upon appellant’s policies issued prior to the amendment of the constitution passed in 1889. And in the same case it was ruled that an amendment, which expunged the provisions which obligated the company on the death of a member to refund all money paid upon assessments, did not have a retrospective operation and no effect upon contracts of insurance entered into prior to the adoption of the amendment. On account of this novel feature in the contract of insurance, the appellant contends that the sum of the insurance (three thousand dollars), plus the amount the respondent had paid in at the date of any assessment furnishes the amount of insurance and the gross sum upon which his assessment should be rated at the rate of $2.55 per thousand; in other words, that the company may levy its assessment, not only on the three thousand dollars of stated insurance, but may also, in addition thereto, levy an assessment upon the gross sum paid in as assessments. A sufficient answer to this contention is that the company has not done so and there is no clause in the constitution nor anything in the contract of insurance that authorizes it. By section 4, article 4, of the constitution, as above stated, one thousand dollars is made the unit of assessment, therefore, an assessment could not be made on any amount less than one thousand dollars or on a sum over one thousand and under two thousand dollars. By making one thousand dollars the unit for assessment, assessments
Discovering no reversible error in the record, the judgment is affirmed.