Surgil v. Kidder, Peabody & Co.

Mabtiít B. Steches, J.

On September 20, 1967, Marilyn Surgil, then 24 years of age, went to an office of Kidder, Peabody & Co. and opened a cash stock brokerage account. She revealed that she was unmarried, self-employed as a “consultant” — no other occupational information was given or, apparently, solicited —and she gave a bank as her sole reference. Investigation by the broker revealed that Miss Surgil maintained there a special checking account, usually accepted as evidence of the most modest of balances. (At the trial she acknowledged her liquid assets to have been about $300.)

The…