The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-06

The remarkable litigation over the
affairs of the long defunct Washington
Beneficial Endowment Association is now
drawing to close, and in short time,
according to all the probabilities, the
thousands of claimants to the funds left
by the association will receive their small
shares of the money. The report of the
auditor, James G. Payne, has been filed
with the District Supreme Court, appor-
tioning the money as he decides it should
be divided. Exceptions to the report have
been filed by the different attorneys in
terested in the case. but it is probable
that few If any of these exceptions viii
be considered valid. and it is now be-
lieved that the case is nearly settled. 1t
has been one of the most interesting and
widely known in the history of insurance
litigation
The chief matter of interest in the re-
port OF the auditor is in the relative sums,
given TO the attorneys in the case, to the
auditor himself. and to the original claim
ants against the old insurance company.
Many persons who have examined the re-
port and who are familiar with the his
tory of the case are of the opinion that
the costs of the litigation have been en-
tirely too heavy, and that the old policy
holders are to receive a much too small
proportion of the fund to be divided.
Heavy Cost of Litigation.
The full amount of the money turned
over to the receivers of the company
when its affairs were wound up, and the
rentals, interest, and other sums s.nSe
added to IL by them make total of
sa4.4l113 OF this sum the court fees,
the lawyers fees, the auditors fees, ana
the receivers fees amount to s9.S2i.5s,
or nearly 10 per cent. The thousands OF
people who insured with the association
and had paid in their money as prem
iums. and the heirs of those who had
died with paid UP policies only get in all
s15,O9O74, or about 60 per cent OF the
amount.
The association has thus been good
thing for she lawyers from the beginning,
as 1t was said they were for tae IN
siiers of the company itself before 1t
went to pieces The policy holders are
still faring badly as they did from the
beginning. The auditor, MIR. Payne, gets
something over s., 0OG. The four attor-
neys in the case Phillips & Mckinney,
A. A. Lipseomb. ]. S. Edwards, ami
Padgett Forrest each get $50 The re-
ceivers. A. A. Lipscomb and Thomas NJ
Fields. each get $500 in cash il addition
to the allowances to them for expenses
On the other hand, the policy holders
secure sums ranging from 5000 TO p
cents The largest amount given to any
claimant is little more than 5000 al
lowed on a death claim for $1,000, the
policy holder having died shortly before
the association went into liquidation
The other claimants who had paid few or
many years premiums TO the company
get small proportion of what they had
paid in
One of the oddities of the case is that
Phillips G. Mckinney got $500, while
their clients. the Ball people, among the
principal claimants. secure only sfS. J. 3
Edwards the attorney and administrator
for the Becker estate, gets $500, and his
clients only ss7-h0. Mr.. Lipscomb gets
$500 as the attorney of the Beneficial En-
dowment Association and $500 as one of
the receivers. or 81, 100 in all-more than
any two of the claimants.
There is some comment among the law
gers at the fee of $500 allowed Mr.. Ed
wards. especially. Mr. Edwards only
claimed $3.50 for his services. and the tes-
timony in the case has his claim for this
amount in black and white beyond any
possible question. The auditor allows him
$500. nevertheless, or double what he
claimed II is said that there has never
been such a decision in all the history of
civil suits. Auditor Payne states that he
made the fee $500 in order not to dis
criminate against Mr.. Edwards. One of
the exceptions to the auditors report is On
account of the fee 10 Mr.. Edwards.
An Interesting Case.
The history of the Washington Bene-
fetal Endowment Association case has
been a most interesting one from the be-
ginning AT times it has been almost dra-
matte. On one particular day, when the
association Offices at 41s Tenth Street were
closed, and the announcement of its troH-
bles was made public, there was for a time
almost a riot among the policy holders in
the street in front of the tightly locked
office doors. Bitter allegations of trickery
and fraud were made then, but they have
been almost forgotten since that time.
The association was organized in 1877 to
do. an insurance business on the mutual
assessment and endowment plan. 1t had
at first capital OF 0.000 and later this
was increased to $40, 600. The association
did fairly large business as far as Sc
curing policyholders was concerned, but
its affairs did not seem to prosper in a