Dorrity v. Greater Durham Building & Loan Ass'n

• Decision Date: 14 June 1933
• Docket Number: 333.
• Citation: 169 S.E. 640,204 N.C. 698
• Parties: DORRITY v. GREATER DURHAM BUILDING & LOAN ASS'N et al.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

169 S.E. 640

204 N.C. 698

DORRITY v. GREATER DURHAM BUILDING & LOAN ASS'N et al.

No. 333.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

June 14, 1933

Appeal from Superior Court, Durham County; Barnhill, Judge.

Action by W. V. Dorrity against the Greater Durham Building & Loan Association and another. From an order dismissing the case plaintiff appeals.

Affirmed.

Contracting party's failure to read stock subscription contract or have it read to him is negligence, for which law affords no redress.

The plaintiff instituted this action against the defendant alleging that an agent of defendant on or about April 22 1929, sold to the plaintiff a membership certificate in the defendant Building & Loan Association for the sum of $250 and collected therefor in cash, whereas in truth and in fact the said agent represented to the plaintiff at the time of sale that he was selling stock in the corporation and the plaintiff thought he was buying stock therein. Plaintiff said: "Mr. Holland told me he wanted to sell me some stock in the Greater Durham Building & Loan at six per cent. He came to me two or three times and I did not buy. Well he come to me and wanted to sell me the stock and I bought one hundred shares of stock. I was paying $2.50 per share for it. I paid him $250.00. He told me he would send me my stock or bring it to me in a few days, and in two or three days he come up there and brought me a little book and something there. He said it was my stock. This is what he brought me." The document referred to by the plaintiff was the certificate of membership, stating, among other things "This is to certify that W. V. Dorrity, of Durham, North Carolina, has paid the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars as a membership payment and is hereby entitled to membership in, and is a member of the Greater Durham Building & Loan Association, subject to the by-laws of the Association as they now are, or as they may be hereafter amended, and one hundred shares of the par value of fifty dollars ($50.00) each are reserved for said member in accordance with the by-laws, payments thereon to be made at the rate of not less than twenty-five cents per share per month," etc.

At the time the membership certificate was delivered, the agent also delivered to the plaintiff a book purporting to be a passbook with spaces for deposits and withdrawals. The last page of the book states: "This certifies that W. V. Dorrity, of Durham, North Carolina, is a member of Greater Durham Building & Loan Association and is the owner of one hundred shares of stock therein," etc.

On April 20, 1929, the plaintiff made a written application to the defendant company as follows: "The undersigned hereby subscribes for one hundred shares of the capital stock of Greater Durham Building & Loan Association, a body corporate, incorporated under the laws of the State of North Carolina, of the par value of $50.00 each, payable in cash herewith or in monthly installments of not less than twenty-five cents per share per month, the first of such installments accompanying this application. I also agree to pay with this subscription a membership payment of $2.50 per share to establish a fund from which you are authorized to defray expense of organization, extension, operation and equipment, such as rent, office expense, advertising solicitors, salesmen, office help, etc., and to establish a reserve for the association, for which a membership certificate shall...