Case Name: Lucinda King, App'lt, v. Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, Resp't
Court: Buffalo Superior Court
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1895-12-23
Citations: 71 N.Y. St. Rep. 587
Docket Number: 
Parties: Lucinda King, App’lt, v. Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, Resp’t.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York State Reporter
Volume: 71
Pages: 587–589

Head Matter:
Lucinda King, App’lt, v. Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, Resp’t.
(Buffalo Superior Court, General Term,
Filed December 23, 1895.)
Pleading—Sufficiency.
A complaint by the widow of defendant’s employe to recover a share of benefit funds established by defendant and its employes, does not show any liability on the part of defendant, where it neither owns, controls nor manages the moneys constituting the fund, and there is no allegation that defendant has any money belonging to anybody in its possession.
Appeal from an interlocutory judgment sustaining a demurrer to the complaint.
Charles J. Oishei, for pl’ff:
Martin Carey, for def't.

Opinion:
WHITE, J.
The complaint states in substance: (1) That the defendant is a foreign railroad corporation operating a railroad in this city. (2) That the defendant has, in connection with certain' of its employes, established, and with them maintains by voluntary contributions made by it and" its said employes, a fund for the benefit of the widow of an employe who had subscribed tq the fund and is accidentally killed while in the discharge of his duty. (3) That the plaintiff's husband was accidentally killed while in the discharge of his duty, and had subscribed to the fund. (4) That the defendant was a contributor to the fund in an equal to that contributed by all of its employes. (5) That the fund in question was, by agreement of all parties interested in it, kept in the custody of an officer of the defendant, and such officer, in connection with a representative of and chosen by the class of employes to which the plantiff's husband belonged (in so far as the plaintiff is interested in it), managed the fund, and moneys from -the fund could be drawn only by the joint action of such officer of the defendant and such representative. (6) That by the terms of the agreement under which the fund in question is created and distributed the plaintiff is entitled to three-fourths of the amount of her husband's contribution for every working day for two years from the time, of his death, to be paid monthly, provided she remains unmarried during that time. (7) That the -plaintiff's husband was killed April 5,1894, and had contributed one day's wages to the fund. It does not state what his wages were, or how much he contributed. The relief demanded is that -the plaintiff receive three-fourths of the amount of her husband's contribution to the fund for every working day, to be paid to her monthly from the time of her husband's death, with costs.
The action seems to have been commenced about July 27,1894, Assuming that the facts stated in the complaint would constitute a cause of action against the custodian of the fund in question,, and entitle the plaintiff to a judgment either for a certain sum, or establishing her right to receive a certain sum for two years from the time her husband was killed, providing she remains unmarried to my mind there is nothing whatever in the complaint showing a cause of action against the defendant. The defendant neither owns, controls, nor manages the moneys constituting this fund. There is no allegation that the defendant has any money belonging to anybody in its possession. The complaint shows that the money, if there is any, is held and mapaged by an officer of the defendant, to be sure, but that he cannot lawfully pay it out except upon an order in which a chosen representative of the class of employes to which the plaintiff's husband belonged shall join in giving it. If the condition of things provided for by the tenth clause of Exhibit A attached to the complaint were shown to exist, a question very different from the one we are called upon to consider would be raised. Possibly, under such a state of affairs, if the defendant refused to reconize a j ust claim upon the fund, it might be said that, having exercised its right to take exclusive management and control of the fund, it should be held bound to distribute it in accordance with the provisions of the law; but until the defendant assumes that attitude it certainly cannot be said that it is liable to any contributor for the failure of the custodian of the fund -agreed upon by all interested in it to discharge liis duty. The plan under which the fund is created and disbursed does not take any notice of the relations which may happen to exist between a contributor and his family, except that the beneficiary must be the contributor himself, and in case of his death his widow is entitled to the benefits. The question, therefore, as to whether or not the plaintiff's husband was living with or supporting or was under obligations to support her at the time of his death, would not seem to be material. The obligation on the part of those controlling it to pay from the fund in this case is plain, if there is money in their hands in which the plaintiff's husband was interested at the time of his death.
The demurrer should be sustained, with leave to the plaintiff to amend her complaint.
All concur.