Perpoli v. Grand Lodge of Legion of W.

Citations

• 102 Cal. 592
• 36 P. 936
• 1894 Cal. LEXIS 690

Syllabus

<p>Mutual Benefit Society—Endowment Coupons—Insufficient Fund— Pro Rata Apportionment. —In a mutual benefit society in which a special benefit fund is created for the benefit of members of a certain class to whom endowment coupons have been issued, the number of the assessments for the payment of the coupons being regulated by the grand lodge of the society at its annual meetings, one of the holders of such coupons is not entitled to recover the entire amount of his coupon, to the exclusion of members of the same class with himself, where the fund is insufficient to pay all of the coupons of the same class maturing at the same time; but, in such case, the fund should be divided equally between all the holders of such maturing coupons, and the plaintiff is only entitled to recover his proportionate part of such fund.</p> <p>Id.—Parties—Beneficiaries Not Before the Court—Assertion of Rights by Trustee.—The fact that other beneficiaries of the same class are not parties to the action, and are not before the court, asserting in their own names their right to participate in the fund, does not affect the right of the plaintiff to recover more than his proportionate share; but the defendant, as trustee of the fund in which such beneficiaries are entitled to share, may assert their rights for them and resist plaintiff’s right to recover more than his proportionate share of the fund.</p>