North American Nut Co., Inc.

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

IN THE MATTER OF NORTH Al\1ERICAN NUT CO., INC., ET AL.

CONSENT ORDER , ETC., IN REGARD TO TI-IE ALLEGED VIOLATION OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COl\Il\IISSION ACT Dorl,~('f. "/'OJO. ('o/l/ploillt, Jail. 1958-Delis;rw, ilIall ;~/ 1!/58 Consent order requiring distributors in New York City of vending machines find vending machine ~upplieF;, to cease repre~enting falsely in advertising in newspapers, periodicals, letters, etc., and through l)rOmotio1131 ma terial furnished their sn lesmen n nd agents. thn I. they offered employment to selected persons who would operate their vending machines and must have working capital for the purchase of merchandise to be dispensed therefor0l11, that such investment was secured and without risk . and would earn excessive profits, that they would provide supervisory and financial assistance, and that they were representatives of a large New York company.

;1//,. Ten' al A. ionIan for the Commission. .117'. Jac ill. 1fT 071/', of New York, N. , for respondents. IKITL\L DECISION BY EARL J. KOLB HEARING EXAMINER The complaint in this proceeding issued tJanuary 27, 1958, charges he respondents Xorth American Nut Co. Ine., n. corporation, Nnt- ~fatic Co. , Inc.., a corporation, and l\faliin Richmond and George ,Yeinstein, individually and as officers of said corporations, the office and prineipa 1 place of business of an respondents being loeat-ed at 27 ,Villiam Street, New York, N. , with violation of the provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act in the advertising, selling and distributing of vending maehines and vending machine, supplies.

After the issnanee of the complaint, saiel respondents entered into n agreement containing consent order to cease and desist with counsel in support of the complaint, disposing of a 11 the issues in this proceeding, which agreement ,yas duly approH' d by the Director and Assistant Direetor of the Bureau of Litigation. It "' as expressly provided in said agreement that the signing t hereof is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by said respondents that they have violated the law as alleged in the complaint.

By the terms of said agreement, the said respondents admitted all the jurisdictional fads alleged in the, complaint and agreed that the record herein may be taken as if the Commission had made findings of Order 54 F.

jurisdictional facts in accordance with the, allegations, and that said agreement disposes of all of this proceeding as to all parties. By said agreement, the parties expressly waived any further procedural steps before the hearing examiner and the Commission; the making of findings of fact or conel usions of law; and all the rights they may have to challenge or contest the validity of the order to c.ease and desist entered in accordance with the agreement. Respondents further agreed that the order to cease and desist, issued in accordance with said agreement, shall have the same force and effe,et as if made after a full hearing.

It was further provided that said agreement, together with the complaint, shall e-onstitute the entire record herein; that the complaint herein may be used in construing the terms of the order issued pursuant to said agreement; and that said order may be altered modified or set aside in the manner prescribed by the statute for orders of the Commission.

The hearing examiner has considered such agreement and the order therein contained, and, it appearing that said agreement and order provide for an appropriate disposition of this proceeding, the same is hereby accepted and is ordered filed upon becoming part of the Commission s dee-ision in accordance with sections 3.21 and 3.25 of the rules of practice, and, in consonance with the terms of said agreement, the hearing examiner finds that the Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction of the subject matter of this proceeding and of the respondents llamed herein, that this proceeding is in the interest the public, and issues the following orde-r: ORDER It is ordered That respondent!'!!, North American Nut Co. , Inc.. n c.orporation, and N ut- ~Iatie Co., Inc. , a corporation, and their office.ers, and ~Ia rtin Richmond and George ,Veinstein, individually and as ollie-ers of each of the aforesaid corporations, and their agents representatives and employees, directly or through any corporate or other device, in e-connection with the offering for sale, sale or distriblltion of vendinp' machines, vending machine. supplies or similar kinds of merchandise, in eommeree, as "commerce~~ is defined in the Federal Trade Commission Act, do forthwith cease and desist from representing, directly or indirectly, that: 1. Employment is oflered pit.her generally or to specially selected persons either by respondents or by any other person, firm or corporation;

NORTH AMERICAN NUT CO. INC. , ET AL. 1711 1709 Decision 2. Persons will be selected to operate and service vending machines owned by respondents;

3. Persons must own an automobile or furnish references in order to purchase respondents' vending machines; 4. The cash investment required to purchase respondents' said vt'JH1ing machines is to provide working capital for the purchase of :111 inventory of merchandise to be dispensed in said vending machines; 5. The cash investment required to purchase respondents' vending machines is secured by an inventory of merchandise \vorth the amount invested or there is no risk of losing said investment; 6. Persons purchasing respondents' said vending machines wjth not. be required to engaged in selling 01' soliciting; 7. The earnings or profits derived from the operation of respondents' said vending machines will be of any greater amount than that usually and customarily earned by operators of respondents' said vending machines;

8. Profitable or satisfactory vending machine locations will be secured, the said vending machines will be installed in profitable or satisfactory loc.ations or the vending m,lchine routes of purc.hasers ,,-ill be otherwise established or supervised to assure their profitable 01' satisfactory operation;

9. The sale of merchandise by respondents' vending mnehines is a permanent business or is una-fIedec1 oy ec.onomic depression; 10. Respondents are the agents or representatives of 01' affiliated with the A. L. Ba-zzini Co. , Inc.., New Yor1\:, N. , 01' any other1' person, firm or corporation when such is not the fact. DECISION OF THE CO.MMISSION AND ORDER TO FILE REPORT OF COl\IPLL\NCE Pursuant to section 3.21 of the Commission s rules of practice, the initial decision of the hearing examiner shall, on the 31st day of :May 1958, become the decision of the Commission; and, accorchngly: It is ordered That 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. Decision 54 F.