A BLACK LIST.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18419, 27 June 1925, Page 16

A BLACK LIST.

PUBLICATION HELD TO BE DEFAMATORY. DAMAGES OF £SO AWARDED. (press association telegram.) GISBORXE, June 2G. An interesting civil claim came'before Mr E. C. Lewy, S.M.j to-day. when Millicent Clarke, married woman, proceeded against the Associated.Creditors'- League, Auckland, claiming £SO damages for alleged unfair black listing. Tlio statement of claim alleged that defendants falsely and maliciously published of the plaintiff a publication circulated amongst various business firms and persons, and to various other persons in Gisborne and elsewhere, a .statement th 't plaintiff was indebted to a person unnamed in the sum of £l3 for dentures. Plaintiff was not in fact indebted to anyone for dentures. By reason of such publication, plaintiff had suffered damage and her credit had been injured. Plaintiff had also suffered in health* mind and estate, and therefore claimed £SO. Mr Burnard appeared for plaintiff? and Mr J. R. Kirk for defendants. For the plaintiff, Mr Burnard said plaintiff was suffering from pyorrhoea and her teeth were extracted by Harold Cato, dentist, and as a result of something which followed the extraction, the alleged debt was incurred. Plaintiff had no idea of dentures'in'her mind when she went to the dentists. While tho plaintiff was coming out of' the anaesthetic, or whatever it was, Cato put a document before her and asked her to sign it, which she' did. She was so bad that she collapsed' at the foot of the stairs. Next; day Cato showed her a copy of. what she had signed. Plaintiff did not. get her dentures mado by Cato nor did'she go to him again, except to-have her mouth washed out. Months later Cato Bad written to her regarding the dentures, and after that he started to send accounts. Plaintiff called on Cato and Cato had told her he had extracted tho teeth cheaply as he expected to : get the dentures. . Her husband said'; he would pay any exTra amount asked j for the extractions, but Cato refused j

this. Cato sent a lawyer's letter to her which was followed by a series of bombardments - on "'the part of the Associated . Creditors League., Counsel contended it was a novel method of making debtors pay, and was a 20th century invention calculated to- make debtors do what tho creditors desired them to do in a, most extraordinary mannor. The system was that creditors were supplied with four letters. The first notice sent out was aa follows: . -.'.•; "As yoy> aro aware, your* account with us has now been owing for a considerable time. Wo hoped this fact, oomfbined with the leniency we have shown you in the past, would have brought about a settlement without putting us to further trouble. Surely you must recognise how impossible it is for us to.oohduefc business;'on- such lines. We are now compelled to.hand 'your account to the Associated; Creditors' League for,.compulsory .settlement.We would prefer not to/take suchldras-, tio measures,'but will h»ve ;n<v alternative unless we receive an immediate response to this letter." . , ; The second read: "Your failure to acknowledge our notice now compels us ,to take the necessary'action for collecting! tie amount due without fiirthor delay. We .are under agreement \rith_the Associated v LeagU© to hand in' a full' report of our out-' standing accounts after a certain lapse of time, consequently your name must now be forwarded to them. This means that your account will be published by them publicly in your district at an early date or otherwise displayed for sale on the.open market. This action will be N taken by them with no desire to persecute you, but simply as a necessary measure at the present time for the protection of all tradetß." . On the reverse, side of the letter, under the heading, "Why Judgments and Accounts are Offered, for Sale," there was the statement that the Associated Creditors', League had set out on. a campaign, to. collect all old outstanding ' accounts - for their members, this being done not only for their protection but also for the protection' of those people who either pay their bills promptly or, if faced with misfortune, • are honest enough to" explain the drcuni stances and make arrangements. Such people must not bo made to suffer, for; the neglect or dishonesty of. those who do, otherwise you are faoedwith. theneceseity of doing something at once. Payment must be • made ];• direct 'to < your creditor. '. : < .-■■■• . . The third letter read:. "We, haye been . instructed by the Associated Creditors' I.eague to.signand forward a final notice before proceeding to .publish this ■ account, for pale in your district or take any action which they deem necessary. for the recovery of the amount in settlement of your indebtedness. You have the opportunity,. for one week only, to save yourself cost and unpleasantness by coming to an understanding with us on receipt of the final notice."

After that, continued Mr Burnard, notice was sent to the League to collect the debt! While these notices were going on, plaintiff saw Catoj'and the notices ceased for a, time, but another series came from the local Association. She saw the .secretary and.'explained that she did not owe tho money, but then' the account was placcd : in the hands of their solicitors. A peculiar feature of the blacklist ;was that Ait: was not only published'to.ereditors t but also to debtors,' which meant' that all who owed debts know of the debts owed-by plaintiff. H. E. Hill, land agent, said -he received a copy of the list. Plaintiff gave evidence-on the lines outlined by counsel. '■ Boy Crawford, dentist, Baid he was ;a member of the defendant. League.. He was to give the first three letters^and the fourth was ■to be ; forwarded to the Auckland office. „ The object? of the publication; of the name in the list waa-not to give credit; to those wioso names were published. < . In reply to Mr Kirk, witness said, he was-the man ttie dentures.

For the defence, Mr Kirk said .the contest was between the plainitff ."arid Cato. He did not ihirik. anything-had been brought out against the League, which-had advice to the effect that the system was, within the law. Cato would say the agreement -was signed prior to the extraction. 'All the list showed" was that the plaintiff owed a debt to Cato and the League offered the debt for sale. Eight lists were sent to r .Cato .and seven were still in his possession. He'contended it was not defamatory a statement'' imputing .a person had debts. •."•'; Cato gave evidence on the lines of counsel's address. - In the course ■of his judgment; the Magistrate said there,was no doubt the list was published with..several intentions, including: the-harassing of creditors after- several straight-out threatening letters-indicating that their names bad to l>e blacklisted so. »s to let tho people who read; the list know the debtors were people to be warned against. He held that the words tfer* defamatory. The claim for damages was not unreasonable, and judgrbent for £SO and costs would not unduly compensate; the . -Judgment was entered." accordingly. '