{ "id": 5449013, "name": "Helena Siedleczski and Czeslawa Siedleczski, by Helena Siedleczski, Appellees, v. Brotherly Aid Society of Prince Joseph Poniatowski, by Charley Karwawski, President, Appellant", "name_abbreviation": "Siedleczski v. Brotherly Aid Society of Prince Joseph Poniatowski", "decision_date": "1919-06-16", "docket_number": "Gen. No. 25,020", "first_page": "494", "last_page": "497", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "214 Ill. App. 494" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.", "id": 8837, "name": "Illinois Appellate Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 29, "name_long": "Illinois", "name": "Ill." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "184 Ill. App. 1", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App.", "case_ids": [ 2845077 ], "weight": 2, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app/184/0001-01" ] }, { "cite": "141 Ill. App. 1", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App.", "case_ids": [ 2620915 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app/141/0001-01" ] }, { "cite": "53 Ala. 601", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ala.", "case_ids": [ 3345160 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ala/53/0601-01" ] }, { "cite": "176 Ill. 94", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill.", "case_ids": [ 3158928 ], "weight": 2, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill/176/0094-01" ] }, { "cite": "160 Mass. 409", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Mass.", "case_ids": [ 791584 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/mass/160/0409-01" ] }, { "cite": "127 Ill. App. 125", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App.", "case_ids": [ 2515749 ], "weight": 2, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app/127/0125-01" ] }, { "cite": "144 Ill. 355", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill.", "case_ids": [ 3079849 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill/144/0355-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 374, "char_count": 6790, "ocr_confidence": 0.53, "pagerank": { "raw": 4.03580807328026e-08, "percentile": 0.15967359486981672 }, "sha256": "2948ac5827a496174a1b0efcd97c764b9424b4b917a6ce5db8ad209b87fcc7d1", "simhash": "1:51eb8f82d4d0e025", "word_count": 1150 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T20:35:57.308743+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "Helena Siedleczski and Czeslawa Siedleczski, by Helena Siedleczski, Appellees, v. Brotherly Aid Society of Prince Joseph Poniatowski, by Charley Karwawski, President, Appellant." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "Mr. Justice Me Surely\ndelivered the opinion of the court.\nPlaintiffs brought suit for $300, the amount of a death benefit which they claimed as members of the family of Thomas Siedleczski, a deceased member of defendant\u2019s society, payable under one of its by-laws. On trial by the court upon a stipulation of facts, judgment was entered for the amount claimed in favor of the plaintiffs. Defendant asks that this be reversed.\nThe by-law referred to provides that upon the death of a member the Society of Prince Joseph Poniatowski shall immediately pay $50 for funeral expenses and $250 to his family.' It is stipulated that plaintiffs-are members of the family, that deceased was in good standing and the by-law in force at the time of his death, and that no part of this money has been paid.\nThe only point of defense presented is that under the defendant\u2019s charter this by-law providing for the payment of death benefits is ultra vires. The contract between a benefit society and its members is contained in the certificate, if there be one, its constitution and by-laws, and the statutes of the State under which it is formed. Alexander v. Parker, 144 Ill. 355; Nowak v. Murray, 127 Ill. App. 125. Defendant\u2019s charter or certificate of organization states that \u201cthe object for which it is formed is mutual aid and assistance to its members and their families, and progress in the spirit of its country, purely charitable and not for pecuniary profit,\u201d We are of the opinion that the by-law providing for funeral expenses and a payment to the family at the time of the member\u2019s death is clearly contemplated by and within the scope of the objects of the defendant society, namely, \u201cmutual aid\" and assistance to its members and their families,\u201d as stated in the certificate of organization. Similar language in the charters of similar societies has been so construed in Young Men\u2019s Protestant Temperance & Benevolent Society v. City of Fall River, 160 Mass. 409; Norwegian Old People\u2019s Some Society v. Wilson, 176 Ill. 94; Boyd v. State, 53 Ala. 601. These words in the charter distinguish the facts here from those under consideration in Society of St. Stephen v. Sikorski, 141 Ill. App. 1, where the sole object of the society stated in the certificate of incorporation was \u201cfor religious and social purposes.\u201d\nDefendant further says that it was incorporated in 1907, under the act of 1872, which gives it no power to do the business of a fraternal beneficiary society, and that the legislature having acted upon the matter of fraternal beneficiary societies by the act of 1893 and its amendments, this latter act controls exclusively the payment of death benefits such as are provided for in the by-laws in question. It is sufficient to reply that in a number of cases in our courts where the societies were organized under the act of 1872, the contract for a death claim was recognized as legal and enforceable, after the passage of the Fraternal Beneficiary Societies Act of 1893. Such cases are Norwegian Old People\u2019s Home Society v. Wilson, 176 Ill. 94; Dunbar v. Royal League, 184 Ill. App. 1; Nowak v. Murray, 127 Ill. App. 125.\nIn the act of 1872, sec, 31 (J. & A. 2449), it is provided:\n\u201cThat corporations, associations and societies, not for pecuniary profit, formed under this act * * * may make by-laws not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of this State or of the United States * * *. Associations and societies which are intended to benefit the widows, orphans, heirs and devisees of deceased members thereof, and members who have received a permanent disability, and where no annual dues or premiums are required, and where the members shall receive no money as profit or otherwise, except for permanent disability, shall not be deemed insurance companies.\u2019-\u2019\nThis would seem to include and contemplate the payment of death benefits to members of the deceased\u2019s family, as was specifically provided for by the defendant\u2019s by-law. As was said in Dunbar v. Royal League, 184 Ill. App. 1, where the defendant was organized under the act of 1872, the only effect of the act of 1893 in regard to beneficiaries was to restrict the scope of fraternal societies, in respect to the persons who might be beneficiaries.\nThere is force in the suggestion that the defendant corporation could not have organized under the act of 1893, which provides for an initial membership of not less than 500 persons, and that small associations like the defendant society, with a small membership, would not be able to organize at all if -it were not for the act of 1872, and that it was the intention of the legislature by not repealing the act of 1872 to protect such small societies.\nWe are of the opinion that the by-law in question was permitted under the act of 1872 and within the objects of the defendant society as stated in its certificate of incorporation. It was therefore wholly within the powers of the defendant to enact such a by-law, and hence the contention that it is void as ultra vires cannot avail. The judgment is right and is affirmed.\nAffirmed.", "type": "majority", "author": "Mr. Justice Me Surely" } ], "attorneys": [ "Frank Greskowiak, Andrew Kucharski and Ewart Harris, for appellant.", "Olene Lapham, for appellees." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "Helena Siedleczski and Czeslawa Siedleczski, by Helena Siedleczski, Appellees, v. Brotherly Aid Society of Prince Joseph Poniatowski, by Charley Karwawski, President, Appellant.\nGen. No. 25,020.\n1. Insurance, \u00a7\u00a7 746, 748 \u2014where contract of member of benefit society found. The contract between a benefit society and its members is contained in the certificate, if there be one, the constitution and by-laws, and the statute of the State under which' the society is formed.\n2. Insurance, \u00a7 749*\u2014when by-law within scope of objects of benefit society. Under the charter of a benefit society, stating the object of the society to be \u201cmutual aid and assistance to its members and their families,\u201d etc., a by-law providing for the payment of funeral expenses and a payment to the family at the time of the member\u2019s death was clearly contemplated by and within the scope of the objects of the society.\n3. Insurance, \u00a7 749*\u2014when contract of benefit society for death claim will be valid. The contract for a death claim, of a benefit society organized under the act of 1872 (J. & A. If 2418 et seq.), which gave no power to do business of a fraternal beneficiary society, was recognized as legal and enforceable, after the passage of the Fraternal Beneficiary Act of 1893 (J. & A. If 6646 et seq.), which gave such power.\nAppeal from the Municipal Court of Chicago; the Hon. Irwin R. Hazen, Judge, presiding. Heard in this court at the March term, 1919.\nAffirmed.\nOpinion filed June 16, 1919.\nRehearing denied June 30, 1919..\nFrank Greskowiak, Andrew Kucharski and Ewart Harris, for appellant.\nOlene Lapham, for appellees.\nSee Illinois Notes Digest, Vois. XI to XV, and Cumulative Quarterly, same topic and section number." }, "file_name": "0494-01", "first_page_order": 526, "last_page_order": 529 }