McCann v. Supreme Conclave

Thomas, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This suit was brought by the widow of Joseph A. McCann, Jr., of Baltimore City, on a benefit certificate issued to him on the 25th of May, 1908, by the Supreme Conclave, Improved Order Heptasophs, of Baltimore City. This certificate, which is set out in the declaration,- after reciting that it “is issued to Bro. Joseph A. McCann, Jr., a member of Eutaw Conclave, Ho. 276, Improved Order Heptasophs, located at Baltimore, Md., upon evidence received from said Conclave that he is a first rate contributor to the Benefit Eund of this Order : and upon the express condition that the statements made by him in his application for membership in said Conclave, and the statements certified by him to the Medical Examiner, both of which are filed in the Supreme Secretary’s Office, be made a part of this contract, and upon condition that the said member complies with, is bound by, and subject to all and every provi ⁶⁵⁷ sion of the Laws, Rules and Regulations now governing said Conclave and Fund,” &c., then provides: “These conditions being complied with, the Supreme Conclave, Improved Order Heptasophs hereby promises and binds itself to pay out of its Benefit Fund to Wife, Annie J. McCann, within sixty days from Receipt of Satisfactory proof of Death, the sum of One Thousand Dollars, not more than the amount of one assessment, in accordance with and under the provisions of the Laws governing said Fund, upon satisfactory evidence of the death of said Member, and upon the surrender of this Certificate, provided that said Member is in good standing in this order at the time of his death.

If death oceurs within one year from date of admission, only fifty per centum of said sum shall be paid, if within two years only sixty per centum of said sum shall be paid, if within three years only eighty per centum of said sum shall be paid, provided death was not caused by suicide.” The narr. further alleges “That the said Joseph A': Mc-Cann, Jr., faithfully complied with and performed all and singular the agreements, obligations and undertakings of- the said Benefit Certificate on his part to be kept and performed; and was a member in good standing in the said body corporate, at the time of his death”; that he died on the second day of February, 1911, and that his death was not caused by suicide; that he complied with all the provisions of the constitution and laws of the order up to the time of his death, “except so far as compliance therewith was prevented by the defendant”; that after his death the plaintiff, his widow, “duly made application to the defendant, as required by the laws of said order, for blanks upon which to make and furnish to the defendant satisfactory proofs of” his death, but that said defendant, “by its Supreme Secretary, refused to furnish to the said plaintiff such blanks, claiming that the said Joseph A. McCann, Jr., was not in good standing at the time of his death,” whereas the said MeCann “was entitled to be on the books of the said order, and in ⁶⁵⁸ contemplation of law was in good standing in said order at the time of his death.” The defendant pleaded “that it was never indebted as alleged” and “that it did not promise as alleged,” and, for a third plea, alleged that the said J oseph A. McCann, Jr., did at one time hold a benefit certificate, which was issued to him on the 25th of May, 1908, “but that he, the said Joseph A. McCann, having failed to comply with the constitution and laws of the said defendant as embraced in section 357, Law XV, of the General Laws of the defendant society, which said section reads as follows: 'Section 357 — Any member failing to pay* his regular monthly or extra payment within the time prescribed for the payment thereof, shall thereby suspend himself ipso facto from all the rights and benefits of the order, as well as the rights and benefits of his beneficiaries, and such suspension shall be complete without any notice or action on the part of this conclave or any officer thereof, or of any officer of the Supreme Conclave; and such person shall continue under suspension until he is reinstated by the payment of all arrearages and compliance with all the other requirements for reinstatement, as provided by the Laws of the Order,’ was ipso facto suspended from membership in Eutaw Conclave No. 276, one of the subordinate conclaves of the defendant society, and from the defendant society, and that he was never thereafter reinstated to membership in said defendant society, and, therefore, there is no liability to the plaintiff on account of said alleged membership in said defendant society, as said McCann was not a member of said defendant society at the time of his alleged death.” For a fourth plea the defendant alleged, in substance, that section 248 of the general laws of the defendant provides that “Each member of the Order shall pay to the Financier of his Conclave, without notice, twelve regular payments in each calendar year, each of which shall be due on the first day and payable on or before the last day of each calendar month; and in addition to such regular monthly ⁶⁵⁹ payments such extra payments as may from time to time he required and laid,” and that the said Joseph A. McCann, Jr., failed to pay the December payment for 1910 on or before the last day of the said month, and by reason thereof lie was at the expiration of said last day of said month “ipso facto suspended from all the rights and benefits of the order”; that he was never reinstated in accordance with the laws of said order, and that his suspension “continued to exist from the first day of January, 1911,” and that at the lime of his death he was not in good standing in the “defendant society” and his beneficiary is not entitled to any “benefit or benefits on account of” said benefit certificate. In reply to these pleas the plaintiff alleged that the defendant refused to receive from the said Joseph A. McCann, Jr., the regular monthly and extra payments within the time prescribed for the payment thereof, and notified him that it would not receive any further payments from him on account of same; that the said Joseph A. McCann, Jr., was not therefore lawfully suspended from the defendant society, and that the defendant, by its said refusal to receive said payment from the said Joseph A. McCann, Jr., waived the provisions of section 351 of its general laws. The defendant traversed these replications, and joined issue on the first replication, alleging that McCann had complied with all the laws of the defendant and was a member thereof at the time of his death, and the case was tried upon issue joined on the first and second pleas, on the first replication and on the rejoinders. At the conclusion of the plaintiff’s testimony the Court below granted an instruction that under the pleadings the plaintiff had offered no evidence legally sufficient to entitle her to recover, and from the judgment in favor of the defendant she appealed.

It appears from the evidence that the deceased became a member of the Eutaw Conclave and of the defendant on May 25th, 1908; that some months thereafter he was confined ⁶⁶⁰ to the Baltimore City Jail at the instance of the plaintiff, and remained there until he was removed to the Springfield Hospital, where he died about eight or nine months later. She says in her testimony: “Before I had him locked up, I noticed he acted queerly; he would come down stairs without any underwear, just a little shirt on”; that she would speak to him about it, and he would not be conscious that there was anything wrong with him, and she had him locked up because she did not want him to expose himself to the children ; she did not know what was wrong with him; he was sent to the City Jail, and after he had been there about four or five months, they sent her word that his mind was bad, and after they, found his mind was bad (at the jail) they took him to Springfield Hospital, which is a hospital in Carroll County for the insane, maintained by the State of Maryland, and that he died there about eight months thereafter, in February, 1911. John M. Kennedy, a brother-in-law of the deceased, testified that he. was a member of Eutaw Conclave Ho. 2J6; that he attended the meetings regularly and generally paid McCann’s dues and assessments for him when-due, and that they were paid up to Hovember 30th, 1910, but that those due after that time were not paid; that the plaintiff gave him the money to pay McCann’s assessment due in December; that he attended a meeting of the conclave in December, and that as he approached the desk of the financial officer of the conclave, Albert H. Hock, the officer authorized to collect dues and assessments, to pay McCann’s dues for December, 1910, “before he had time to make his business known” Hock said to him: “I want to see you; that man Joseph A. McCann, Jr., you have out there in the hospital, is not fit to be a member of this conclave”; that Hock had a letter making certain charges against McCann and told witness the contents thereof; that he asked Hock to give him the letter, which he refused to do, stating that it was the property of the Supreme Conclave, and that he then said to witness: “This man will get no more benefits from ⁶⁶¹ this conclave, and the Supreme body will not pay him any insurance even if he dies; we have been informed that he will not live long; that he is an epileptic; he was born crazy and was an imbecile”; that witness replied that he did not think there was anything wrong with his mind until he was incarcerated, and that the officer replied: “Oh, that boy at twelve years old who would attempt an assault upon his mother is certainly an imbecile”; that he “attempted to reason the matter out with” Hock, and told him that the plaintiff had given him the money to pay McCann’s dues, etc., but that he replied, “We will take no more, * * * ; that he would not get up in the conclave and have him expelled, but he would let him lapse out and ignore him entirely, and not take any more money from him.” On cross-examination this witness further stated that McCann’s monthly payment was $1.23; that the Eutaw Conclave had paid McCann thirteen sick benefits for the first year; that the first benefit was $2.50 and others were $5.00