PRESSING A DEBTOR

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 June 1925, Page 2

PRESSING A DEBTOR

ALLEGED BLACKMAILING. (Per Press Association.) ■' -7 ■ '' ;s ;i ,i .GISBORNE, June 26. , ~An interesting civil claim, came before Mr E. C. Levvy, S.M. A , to-qay, when IVlillicent Clarke, a woman, proceeded against the .Associated Creditors League, of Auckland, claiinfng £5O damages for alleged unfair' 'blackmailing. ~ ~ ■-, , The statement of claim alleged that the defendants, falsely and maliciously published the. name of plaintiff Jn a publication circulated amongst various business firms and persons and to - various other persons in Gisborne and elsewhere, a statenient that.plaintiff, was indebted to a person. \ un-named,-the su.ip.of-. £1.3 for- dentures. Plaintiff was not/ill fact indebted to anyqne for dentures, and by reason of tlie statemeni )t plaintiff had suffered damage, and her. credit had . Been injured. The-plaintiff had also suffered in health, and mind , and estate. The plaintiff therefore claimed £t>o. -,Mr„:L> ;T. Burnard appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr J- 11. Kirk, for the defendants. . ; ,

For plaintiff, Mr Burnard said that plaintiff was suffering from pyorrhea and her teetlirwere extracted by Harold Gatto, dentist, and as a result of ispnjething which followed the extraction, an alleged debt was incurred. Plaintiff had no idea of dentures in mind when -she went to the dentists. After the extraction, and when plaintiff was coming out of the anaesthetic , whatever ,it ~ was, uatto put a document before her and asked her to sign, which she did.. She, was so bad that she collapsed at the foot of the stairs, Next day Gatto, showed her a copy what she Jiad signed. . Plaintiff did, not get her dentures made by Cat to,, nor did. .she go to-him again, except to have her mouth washed out- Months later, Catto had written to,her regarding the dentures, and after that he started to sqnd accounts. Plaintiff’s husband called on Catto, and Catto had told Jiini he had u extracted, the teeth cheaply, as he. expected to get the dentures. Her husband stud -he would pay. ‘any extra amount asked for the extraction, but Catto refused this. Catto sent a lawyer’s letter to her, which was followed jby a series of bombardments on the part of the Associated Creditors’ League. Counsel contended that it was a novel niethod of making debtors pay, calculated to make debtors do what the ; creditors desired them to . do an a* most extraordinary manner. The system was that creditors were supplied with four. letters. The first notice sent out was as follows: —

“As you are aware, your account ivitli us hq§ now' been owing for a considerable time. We hoped this fact, cortibfned' with the leniency we' have shown you in..the past, would have, brought abqut a settlement, without putting us to further trouble. Surely you must recognise how impossible it is. for. us.to cond”ct business .on-such lines. We are . now icompelled tp hand , the, aecount ? to. the. •Associated League,.f.or, a, compulsory settlement. We .would;.prefer not to. take such drastic; laeasures, but. will have no alternative .unless; we receive an immediate response to this ’letter.”

The second read : —

. <i ‘Your failure to acknowledge our ’* 'notice now, us to take the necessary .action for the collection of the amount due, without further delay ; W«i are under an agreement with -the' Associated Creditors.’ League to hand in a. full report of our outstanding 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 . —with " no desire- to . persecute you, but simply as a necess"ry measure at. the present tune, for the protection of all trades.” On the reverse side’ of the Tetter, under the heading. “Why Judgments and Accounts are Offered for Sale,’’ there was the statement: — “The Associated .Creditors’ League set out’.on. a campaign to collect all old outstanding . accounts for rneir members, this being , done, not only for their prote'fion, 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 circumstances. and make arrangements. Such people must .be made . to suffer for the negluct or dmhoni esty of those who do otherwise. You i are faced with the’ necessity of do- ■ ing something .at once. ' Payment must be made to your creditors.” i The third letter read;- -

“We have been instructed by the Associated Creditors’ League to sign and forward final notice bei fore they proceed to publish this j account in your district, or take , any action which they deem, neces- , sary for the recovery of the, amount in settlement of. your, indebtedness. You have an opportunity for one WQek only to suve yourself cost and 11 unpleasantness ffiy coming to an un- ' 1 derstand.ing with us on receipt of || the final notice.” II After that, said Mr 1 Burnand, notice was sent to,the League to collect The debt. While these notices were going on, plaintiff saw Catto and the liotices ceased for a time, but another series came from.the l<scal Association. She saw the secretary and explained she did mot owe money, hut then the account was placed in the hands of their solicitors. A peculiar feature of the blacklist that it was published not only to creditors', Hit also to debtors, which meant that ail who owed debts knew of debts owed by plaintiff. iH. E. Hill, land agent, said that lije received a copy of the list. : Plaintiff gave evidence on the'nnes .outlined by counsel. J Roy Crawford, dentist, fe’aid that he was a member of the defendant . League. He waa to give the first three letters, and the .fourth was to b| forwarded to the Auckland office. T|ie • object of publication of names .was not to give credit to those whose names, were published. jin ’ reply to Mr Kirk, witness said that" he was the man who made the dentures. s ... iFoi* the defence.-Mr Kirk raid the ccintest was between 1 .plaintiff- and . Catto, . He did ; not think anything had been brought out . against. , the '• League; which , had, .advicej to the ef i feet that the system was. the lalw. , Catto would sav„t!io agreement was signed, prior to' the. extraction.. All the list showed was'that plain.fc.ff O'bed a debt to Catto. and the League offered the debt' for Stile, Eight lists (f .were sent to Catto, and, seven were, still in. his , ,He contended it was hot defam,atory to make a statement imputing; that a 'person had debts.' Catto gave evidence on,, the lines, ol'.' f/dunsel's addreiy. ' Tn the course of his indoient, the MpMslrate said no dbnbt the list was P'ihl’shecl with several intentions, including the. hbrassjig of creditors, after scvei“.'.i ■ threatening lo'jp.rc i”fiica f im' the names h.ad Io Ite blacklisted, as to let people wl)o reui'T Ike hsl know the drbters

were people to be warned against. Ho held that (ha words were defamatory, and the claim for damages was not unreasonable, and judgment for £5O and costs, would not unduly compensate the plaintiff. Judgment was euleivd aseordingly.