Ginsberg

Defendant United States Letter Carriers’ Mutual Benefit Association, a corporation, appeals from a judgment which directed it to pay to plaintiff the sum of $2,000 due and payable as a death benefit on a benefit certificate issued by it on the life of Michael Butler, deceased. Plaintiff S. Ginsberg claims said sum as a pledgee or assignee of said benefit certificate for security purposes.

Appellant corporation is a fraternal benefit society organized under the laws of Tennessee, with branches throughout the country.. It contends that an assignment of such a certificate to a creditor for security purposes is void. In making this contention it relies on certain provisions of its by-laws and of the statutes of the state of Tennessee, under which it was organized, which expressly limit payment of death benefits due on certificates to certain classes of relatives and dependents of members of the society, not including creditors, and protect the proceeds of such certificates from attachment, garnishment or other legal process to pay any debt or liability of a member or beneficiary, either before or after payment. More particularly appellant relies on a provision of its by-laws which…