Under North Carolina law contributory negligence is a complete defense to all types of negligence claims including legal malpractice.  Summary judgment is appropriate in NC if a plaintiff is contributory negligent.

In Keyes v. Delk, the North Carolina Court of Appeals recently held that a client was barred from suing his former lawyer when that client read certain agreements presented to him by his former lawyer.  Plaintiff claimed he didn’t ask his lawyer questions because he trusted his lawyer.

The NC Court of Appeals stated:

It is well established in North Carolina that “one who signs a written contract without reading it, when he can do so understandingly is bound thereby unless the failure to read is justified by some special circumstance. Although plaintiffs try to suggest that this rule may be altered when the party has retained an attorney to review the contract, this Court has held otherwise: “[Plaintiff's] attorney owed a duty to review and explain the legal import and consequences which would result from her executing the [contract]. However, this duty does not relieve him from his own duty to ascertain for himself the contents of the contract he was signing.”

In affirming summary judgment the Court of Appeals noted that plaintiff had a college degree and some graduate work.