Barnet Epstein

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

x THE Marten OF BARNET EPSTEIN ET AL. DOING BUSINESS AS FIT-RITE MAIL ORDER. HOUSE, ETC.

ORDER, ETC., IN REGARD TO THE ALLEGED VIOLATION OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ACT Docket 6496. Complaint, Jan. 17, 1956—Decision, Mar. 9, 1957 Consent order requiring New York City mail order sellers of children’s and women’s dresses and other wearing apparel, including used garments, to cease representing falsely in advertising that the used apparel they sold was new, and to cease substituting a substantially lesser number of garments for the “12” or “10” or “5” specified, and of a quality or condition not ordered.

Mr. Terral A. Jordan for the Commission.

Messrs. Walter L. and Robert M. Post, of New York, N.Y., for respondents.

Inrriau Decision spy J. Earn Cox, Heartne Examiner The complaint alleges that the respondents have been and are engaged in the mail-order business of selling and distributing, in commerce, children’s and women’s dresses and other kinds of wearing apparel, including used dresses and apparel, and charges that in the course of said business respondents have misrepresented said products in advertisements pertaining thereto, in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

Subsequent to the issuance of the complaint, respondents, their counsel, and counsel supporting the complaint entered into an agreement containing consent order to cease and desist, which was approved by the Director and the Assistant Director, Bureau of Litigation of the Commission, and thereafter transmitted to the Hearing Examiner for consideration.

The agreement identifies respondents Barnet Epstein and Hyman Schustal as individuals trading and doing business as a copartnership under the names of Fit-Rite Mail Order House, Best Mail Order House and Peoples Mail Order House, with their office and principal place of business located at 15 Hester Street, New York, New York.

The agreement provides, among other things, that respondents admit all the jurisdictional facts alleged in the complaint and agree that the record may be taken as if findings of jurisdictional facts had been duly made in accordance with such allegations; that the FIT-RITE MAIL ORDER HOUSE, ETC. 769 768 Decision record on which the initial decision and the decision of the Commission shall be based shall consist solely of the complaint and this agreement; that the.agreement shall not become a part of the official record unless and until it becomes a part of the decision of the Commission; that the complaint may be used in construing the terms of the order agreed upon, which may be altered, modified or set aside in the manner provided for other orders; that the agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by respondents that they have violated the Jaw as alleged in the complaint; and that the order set forth in the agreement and hereinafter included in this decision shall have the same force and effect as if entered after a full hearing. | 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 the agreement.

The order agreed upon fully disposes of all the issues raised in the complaint, and adequately prohibits the acts and practices charged therein as being in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Accordingly, the Hearing Examiner finds this proceeding to be in the public interest and accepts the agreement containing consent order to cease and desist as part of the record upon which this decision is based. Therefore, It is ordered, That respondents Barnet Epstein and Hyman Schustal, as individuals or as co-partners trading and doing business as Fit-Rite Mail Order House, Best Mail Order House or Peoples Mail Order House, or under any other trade name, and respondents’ agents, representatives and employees, directly or through any corporate or other device, in the offering for sale, sale or distribution of used children’s dresses, used women’s dresses, or used wearing apparel of any other kind, in commerce, as “commerce” is defined in the Federal Trade Commission Act, do forthwith cease and desist from:

1. Using the words “brand-new” or “new” or other words of similar import or meaning to describe said used wearing apparel or otherwise representing, directly or by implication, that said used wearing apparel is new or unused;

9. Advertising, offering for sale or selling said wearing apparel without clearly revealing that it is used merchandise; 3. Substituting without the prior consent of the purchaser, wearing apparel which differs in grade, quality, quantity, condition Decision 53 ¥F.T.C.

or otherwise from that advertised or offered for sale or ordered by the purchaser.

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 9th day of March, 1957, become the decision of the Commission; and, accord-ingly:

It is ordered, That respondents Barnet Epstein and Hyman Schustal, doing business as Fit-Rite Mail Order House, Best Mail Order House, and Peoples Mail Order House, 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. SIMPLICITY PATTERN CO., INC. 771 Decision