Opinion
Decided December, 1892.
BILL OF INTERPLEADER. Facts agreed. The plaintiffs are a beneficiary association, chartered under the laws of Massachusetts. In January, 1880, a certificate in the association was issued to Asa Swett, upon his application, by which the association promised to pay out of its benefit fund, to the wife and children of Swett, upon his death, a sum not exceeding five thousand dollars, in accordance with the laws of the association. He, or the beneficiaries, paid the assessments upon this certificate until March 3, 1883, when without their knowledge he surrendered it to the association, and applied for a new one, to be made payable to the defendant Sides and others, who were not related to him or in any way dependent upon him; and March 19 such a certificate was issued. The by-laws required that a certificate should be payable to the family or dependents of the member. The beneficiaries named in the last certificate paid all the assessments made upon it, and made due proof of Swett's death, which occurred in January, 1892. His wife and children are also defendants.
Calvin Page, for the plaintiffs.
Frink Batchelder, for Swett and others.
John Hatch and Samuel W. Emery, for Sides and others.
The decision in Lanouette v. Laplante, ante, p. 118, disposes of this case.
Case discharged.
CHASE, J., did not sit: the others concurred.