Wiese

This was an action to recover certain sick-benefits. The general features of the case are like those in Stohr v. San Francisco Musical Society, ante, p. 557, which is against the same defendant. After the passage of the by-law, limiting the amount of benefits and the payments in accordance therewith, the defendant refused to pay anything further; and within a few months thereafter, the plaintiff commenced an action in the justice’s court to recover the installments then claimed to be due. Judgment was given in his favor, and the society appealed to the superior court, where, after a trial on the merits, a similar judgment was rendered. The court below held this judgment to estop the defendant from maintaining the defense presented here; and we think that this ruling was correct.

It affirmatively appears that the matters which are presented here were litigated and decided in the former action. There, as here, the main defense was, that the by-law of 1883 limited the amount of benefits to be paid to the plaintiff. The court decided that the defendant had no power to impose such a limitation. The only difference between the two cases is, that, by mere lapse-of time and the…