Opinion
No. 36246
Decided May 4, 1960.
Fraternal benefit societies — Meetings for election of officers — Mandamus — Dismissal — Moot case.
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County.
The relator, Titler, a member of the respondent brotherhood, on April 8, 1959, brought this action in mandamus in the Court of Appeals against the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, an unincorporated association, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Insurance Department, an incorporated fraternal benefit society, and the persons comprising the board of directors of the brotherhood to compel the respondents to call and hold a convention for the election of officers.
Relator alleges that the brotherhood and the insurance department are required by the terms of its constitution and the laws of Ohio to hold a convention for the election of officers and the transaction of other business every four years; that the last convention was held in 1954; and that, by means of a referendum vote of the membership, the 1958 convention was unlawfully postponed for a period of four years.
On September 8, 1959, the Court of Appeals denied the writ.
An appeal as of right brings the cause to this court for review.
Messrs. Corrigan Garmone, for appellant.
Mr. Ray T. Miller, Mr. Dan W. Duffy and Mr. Ben C. Green, for appellees.
On February 2, 1960, counsel for respondents filed in this court a motion for an order dismissing the case "for the reason that the question is now moot."
Because of the necessity of amending its constitution and to comply with the new federal Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, the president and board of directors issued a call for a convention to be convened in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 4, 1960, on which day the convention did convene and continued in session from day to day thereafter. An affidavit of counsel, attached to and made a part of the motion to dismiss, states that the "convention will conclude its business * * * elect its officers and adjourn * * * and that at the time this convention adjourns it will have completed all of the business of the brotherhood that could properly be presented to the convention for action."
It thus appearing that the question has become moot, the motion to dismiss is sustained and the appeal dismissed.
Appeal dismissed.
WEYGANDT, C.J., ZIMMERMAN, TAFT, MATTHIAS, BELL, HERBERT and PECK, JJ., concur.