Grand Lodge of Iowa of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows v. Osceola Lodge No. 18, Independent Order of Odd Fellows

I respectfully dissent from the majority decision herein, not only because it reaches the unconscionable result of rewarding the wrongdoers and defeating the object and purpose of an express trust established for the use and benefit of the members of the Odd Fellowship and their charitable purposes, but because it ignores the nature of the trust and permits repudiation of it without a proper and necessary showing of notice to the real beneficiaries.

First of all, the defendants’ plea of the statute of limitations is an affirmative defense and the burden of proof is upon the pleader. Armstrong…