Baltimore & Ohio Railroad v. Veltri

Citations

• 37 Pa. Super. 399
• 1908 Pa. Super. LEXIS 295

Syllabus

<p>Beneficial associations — Railroad Relief Department — Beneficiaries —Wife—Substitution of beneficiaries — Payment of money into court.</p> <p>The member of the relief department of a railroad company, an unincorporated association composed of employees of a railroad company, designated in his application for membership a woman described by him as his wife. As a matter of fact the woman named was not his wife, although she supposed herself to be so. After the death of the member it was discovered that the member had a wife living at the time he went through a form of marriage with the beneficiary named. Both women survived the member and claimed the fund. The railroad company filed an interpleader bill, and paid the money into court. The regulations of the department provided that the beneficiary' or beneficiaries named, if the applicant be married, must be his wife, or his wife and children, and that no one should be entitled to be a beneficiary who is not. the member’s widow, or a relative not more remote than a first cousin._ The member stipulated as follows: “I expressly stipulate that my marriage shall ipso facto have the effect to substitute my wife in the place and stead of the beneficiary named.” Held, (1) that the fund was properly paid into court to be distributed in accordance with the law; (2) That the payment of the money into court by the company was not an acknowledgment of the beneficiary’s right of action; (3) that a decree awarding the fund to the lawful wife was proper.</p>