Recovery of real estate commissions has been denied to a Virginia real estate corporation for engaging in the real estate business in North Carolina without a license.

Plaintiff, Raab & Co., a Virginia corporation filed suit in Mecklenburg County District Court against defendant, Independence Corporation, a North Carolina corporation, for the recovery of real estate commissions for acting as rental agent for defendant in connection with certain real estate leases.

Evidence at the trial showed that plaintiff had not secured a certificate of authority to do business in North Carolina as required in Chapter 55 of the General Statutes and that it had not secured a real estate license as provided in Chapter 93A of the General Statutes. The trial court granted the defendant's motion to dismiss the suit for failure of the plaintiff to prove a case and plaintiff appealed.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court, holding that plaintiff's claim for commissions was properly dismissed

As the basis for its decision, the Court quoted G.S. 93A-2(a), which defines a real estate broker, and G.S. 93A-8, which provides for criminal penalties for violating the statute, and the principles of low enunciated in the case of McARVER v. GERUKOS ' 265 N.C. 413 (a 1965 real estate case) in which the Supreme Court said:

"If the statute, so construed, makes the doing of an act a criminal offense, one who has contracted to do the forbidden act may not, after performing his contract, sue in the courts to recover the agreed consideration for such performance."