Gamer
Gamer v. duPont Glore Forgan, Inc.
Opinion
Opinion
Whelan, J.
Peter P. Gamer, plaintiff, has appealed from a judgment entered Februaiy 7, 1975, in his class action against duPont Glore Porgan Incorporated (Glore Porgan), defendant, to recover allegedly usurious interest paid to Glore Porgan. The judgment followed the granting of Glore Forgan’s motion for summary judgment.
The action was commenced on August 30, 1973.
Plaintiff is a California lawyer who in 1966, while practicing in Beverly Hills, arranged for a securities margin account with Walston & Co., Inc. (Walston) at the Beverly Hills office of that firm.
The agreement signed by plaintiff in opening the margin account was on a printed form prepared by Walston. It contained 20 numbered paragraphs, numbers 4, 18 and 19 of which were as follows:
The agreement showed on its face that Walston was a member of the New York Stock Exchange and contained provisions covering the customs of stock exchanges for margin accounts (see Charles H. Meyer, Law of Stockbrokers and Stock Exchanges (1931)). Among such customs is the provision that the broker may use shares purchased for the account of the customer as collateral to obtain loans.