Christy v. Kelly

• Decision Date: 03 February 1993
• Docket Number: Docket No. 143560
• Citation: 497 N.W.2d 194,198 Mich.App. 215
• Parties: Bernard N. CHRISTY, Defendant-Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gregory M. KELLY, Prudential Bache Securities, Inc., Eric Dawe, and James F. Dunn, Third-Party Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

Page 194

497 N.W.2d 194

198 Mich.App. 215

Bernard N. CHRISTY, Defendant-Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gregory M. KELLY, Prudential Bache Securities, Inc., Eric Dawe, and James F. Dunn, Third-Party Defendants-Appellants.

Docket No. 143560.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted Oct. 6, 1992, at Lansing.

Decided Nov. 4, 1992.

Approved for Publication Feb. 3, 1993, at 9:05 a.m.

Released for Publication April 12, 1993.

Kenneth B. Williams, East Lansing, for third-party plaintiff-appellee.

Hertz, Schram & Saretsky by Gary M. Saretsky, Bloomfield Hills, for third-party defendants-appellants.

Before HOOD, P.J., and WAHLS and McDONALD, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Third-party defendants appeal by leave granted from the denial of their motion to compel arbitration of the third-party complaint. We reverse and remand.

In April 1986, plaintiff granted her longtime family friend, Bernard Christy, a durable power of attorney. In June 1988, she executed a revocable trust naming him as trustee. In October 1988, Christy, as trustee, opened an investment account with the third-party defendants. When he opened the account, he signed an agreement in which he promised to submit to arbitration "[a]ny controversy arising out of" the account.

In 1990, because of significant losses in the account, plaintiff dismissed Christy as trustee, closed the account, and transferred her remaining assets to a different account. ¹ She then sued Christy seeking to recoup her losses. Christy cross-claimed against the third-party defendants, seeking indemnification. ²

Christy argues, with no relevant supporting authority, that he should not be bound by the arbitration agreement, because he failed to read it and because he was old and in poor health. The trial court apparently agreed, denying the motion to enforce the arbitration agreement on the grounds that Christy's claim against the third-party defendants had not yet matured and that judicial economy would not be served by arbitrating such a contingent claim. We disagree with both Christy and the trial court.

It is undisputed that Christy voluntarily signed an agreement in which he promised to submit all disputes arising out of the account to arbitration. His alleged failure to read it or understand it is no defense:

The stability of written instruments demands that a person who executes one shall know its contents or be chargeable with such knowledge. If he cannot read, he should have a reliable person read it to him. His failure to do so is negligence which estops him from voiding the instrument on the ground that he was ignorant of its contents, in the absence of circumstances fairly excusing his failure to inform himself. [Sponseller v. Kimball, 246 Mich. 255, 260, 224 N.W. 359 (1929).]

See also Aluia v. Harrison Community Hosp. (On Remand), 139 Mich.App. 742, 749, 362 N.W.2d 783 (1984).

Further, Christy does not allege fraud or deception in the procuring of the agreement. See Feinberg v. Straith Clinic, 151 Mich.App. 204, 211, 390 N.W.2d 697 (1986). Where, as here, an arbitration agreement indisputably complies with the requirements of the...