Yards Department Store

Text (OCR of the scan at left; may contain errors)

In the Marrer or YARDS DEPARTMENT STORE ET AL.

ORDER, ETC., IN REGARD TO THE ALLEGED VIOLATION OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION AND THE FUR PRODUCTS LABELING ACTS Docket 6662. Complaint, Oct. 25, 1956—Decision, Mar. 5, 1957 Consent order requiring a department store in Trenton, N.J., to cease violating the Fur Products Labeling Act by advertisements in newspapers, etc., which failed to disclose the names of animals producing the fur in certain products, which set forth fictitious prices and represented regular prices as reduced therefrom, and which used comparative prices not based on current market values; and by failing to maintain adequate records on which such price claims were based.

Mr. S. F. House for the Commission.

Inrtrau Decision By JoHNnN Lewis, Heartne Examiner The Federal Trade Commission issued its complaint against the above-named respondents on October 25, 1956, charging them with having violated the Fur Products Labeling Act and the rules and regulations issued thereunder, and the Federal Trade Commission Act. by reason of having falsely and deceptively advertised certain fur products. After being served with said complaint, respondents entered into an agreement, dated December 1, 1956, containing a consent order to cease and desist, purporting to dispose of all of this proceeding as to all parties without hearing. Said agreement for consent order, which has been signed by counsel supporting the complaint and by all respondents, and approved by the Director and Assistant Director of the Bureau of Litigation, has been submitted to the above-named hearing examiner for his consideration, in accordance with Section 3.25 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure.

Respondents, pursuant to the aforesaid agreement, have admitted all the jurisdictional facts alleged in the complaint, and have agreed that the record may be taken as if findings of jurisdictional facts had been made in accordance with such allegations. Said agreement further provides that respondents waive any further procedural steps before the hearing examiner and the Commission, the making of findings of fact or conclusions of law, and all of the rights they may have to challenge or contest the validity of the order to cease and desist entered in accordance with said agreement. It has also been agreed that the order to cease and desist issued in accordance YARDS DEPARTMENT STORE ET AL. 755 754 * Order with said agreement shall have the same force and effect as if entered after a full hearing and that the complaint may be used in construing the terms of said order. It has been further agreed that the aforesaid agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by respondents that they have violated the law as alleged in the complaint.

This proceeding having now come on for final consideration on the complaint and the aforesaid agreement containing consent order, and it appearing that the order provided for in said agreement covers all the allegations of the complaint and provides for an appropriate disposition of this proceeding as to all parties, said agreement is hereby accepted and is ordered filed upon this decision’s becoming the decision of the Commission pursuant to Sections 3.21 and 3.25 of the Rules of Practice and Procedure, and the hearing examiner, accordingly, makes the following jurisdictional findings and order: 1. Respondent Yards Department Store is a corporation organized, existing and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of the State of New Jersey with its office and principal place of business located at State and Broad Streets in the City of Trenton, State of New Jersey. Respondent Mark Perlman (incorrectly named in the complaint as Mark Pearlman) is an individual and manager of the Fur Department of said corporation. The address of said individual respondent is the same as that of said corporate respondent. 2. The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction of the subject matter of this proceeding and of the respondents hereinabove named. The complaint states a cause of action against said respondents under the Fur Products Labeling Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act, and this proceeding is in the interest of the public. ORDER It is ordered, That the respondents Yards Department Store, a corporation, and its officers, and Mark Perlman, individually and as Manager of the Fur Department of said corporation, and their representatives, agents and employees, directly or through any corporate or other device, in connection with the introduction into commerce, or the sale, advertising, or offering for sale in commerce, or the transportation or distribution in commerce, of any fur product, or in connection with the sale, advertising, offering for sale, transportation, or distribution of any fur product which is made in whole or in part of fur which has been shipped and received in commerce, as “commerce,” “fur” and “fur product” are defined in the Fur Products Labeling Act, do forthwith cease and desist from: Decision 538 F.T.C.

Falsely or deceptively advertising fur products through the use of any advertisement, representation, public announcement, or notice which is intended to aid, promote or assist, directly or indirectly, in the sale or offering for sale of fur products, and which: 1. Fails to disclose the name or names of the animal or animals producing the fur or furs contained in the fur products as set forth in the Fur Products Name Guide and as prescribed under the rules and regulations.

2. Represents directly or by implication that the regular or usual price of any fur product is any amount which is in excess of the price at which the respondents have usually and customarily sold such products in the recent regular course of their business. 3. Makes use of comparative prices or percentage savings claims unless such compared prices or claims are based upon the current market value of the fur product or upon a bona fide compared price at a designated time.

4, Makes price claims and representations of the type referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 above, unless there is maintained by respondents full and adequate records disclosing the facts upon which such claims or representations are based.

DECISION OF THE COMMISSION AND ORDER TO FILE REPORT OF COMPLIANCE Pursuant to Section 3.21 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice, the initial decision of the hearing examiner shall, on the 5th day of March 1957, become the decision of the Commission; and, accordingly: ) It is ordered, That the respondents herein shall within sixty (60) days after service upon them of this order, file with the Commission a report in writing setting forth in detail the manner and form in which they have complied with the order to cease and desist. KOSLOW’S 757 Decision In THe MarrtTer oF