Meyer

This case seems to be on all fours with Perkins v. Fish, 121 Cal. 317 . Plaintiff held a certificate of membership in the Mutual Endowment Association, which assumed to be and was doing business in the style of a corporation. The association went through the form of incorporation, and the defendants, who were its directors, still contend that it was a corporation de jure and de facto. Articles of incorporation were executed in due form and were filed in the clerk’s office of the county and in the office of the secretary of state. A board of directors was elected and elaborate by-laws adopted. They provided, for its members only, endowment, insurance, and disability benefits, and also for assessments, with elaborate and minute provision for the disposition and management of the funds of the association. This action is not based upon any charge that the moneys have been wasted or misappropriated, but solely upon the proposition that there was a complete failure to incorporate, and the association was not even a corporation de facto, and, therefore, there was no authority on the. part of defendants, claiming to act as trustees or directors of a corporation, to receive the money. But…