Blair v. Supreme Council American Legion of Honor

Citations

• 208 Pa. 262
• 57 A. 564
• 1904 Pa. LEXIS 741

Syllabus

<p>Beneficial associations — Trust relation to members — Death certificate— Equity — Adequate remedy at law — Discovery.</p> <p>Where a beneficial association issues a death certificate to a member for $5,000, and eleven years afterwards passes a by-law that the highest death benefit shall be $2,000, whether for certificates issued before or after, but that the face value of certificates shall be paid so long as the emergency fund has not been exhausted, and subsequently the widow of the member presents her certificate to the association and is told that she is only entitled to $1,900, and that she can only receive that if she surrenders her certificate for cancelation, the widow may, notwithstanding that she has surrendered her certificate, maintain a bill in equity against the association to compel the return of the certificate, to make discovery of the condition of the emergency fund, and to pay to her the full sum to which she is entitled.</p> <p>A beneficial association sustains a relation towards its members other than that of a mere life insurance company. The fund which it controls is practically a trust fund made up of the contributions of the members. .</p> <p>Jurisdiction in equity depends not so much on the want of a common-law remedy as upon its inadequacy, and its exercise often rests in the discretion of the court; in other words, the court may take upon itself to say, whether the common-law remedy is under all the circumstances and in view of the conduct of the parties sufficient for the purpose of complete justice.</p>