Preliminary Report on Cromartie v. Hunt and Daley v. Leak by Goldfield and Lee

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Rm. 

President 
Hon. Francis E. Rivers 

PRESS RELEASE Director-Counsel efense un Jack Greenberg 
Director, Public Relations NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. Jesse DeVore, Jr. 10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 NIGHT NUMER 712-749-8487 

FOR RELEASE 

July 5, 1969 

NEW TRUTH IN LENDING 
LAW GETS FIRST TEST 

NEW YORK CITY---The nation's first suit under the federal Truth in Lending Law was filed this week in the United States District court against a Harlem merchant who failed to advise a customer that 18 per cent of the cost of his new TV set, purchased on time, was interest. 

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) teamed up with the Harlem Consumer Protection Union to bring the suit only hours after the law--passed by Congress in 1968--went into effect. 

The action was against the Future Furniture Company, 2 East 125th Street, which sold an Admiral Console TV set to Henry A. White for $338.33. 

The suit charges the company with failing to tell Mr. White that $60.90, which represents 19 per cent of the total, is the additional price he will have to pay for buying the $277.43 set on time. 

Mr. White, who serves as director of education for the Harlem Consumer Protection Union, went to the store to purchase a TV set for himself, as well as to test operation of the new law in Harlem. 

His organization is a new consumer self-help group which is working with the Legal Defense Fund to crack down on ghetto mer- chants, finance companies, and loan companies which violate the law. 

The Union will be sending testers into Harlem stores just as civil rights organizations use testers to see if companies comply with fair housing and public accommodation laws. 

The case represents part of an ongoing program of LDF consumer protection litigation. 

According to LDF attorney Philip Schrag, “poor consumers, both black and white, are routinely cheated and abused by merchants and creditors. We are using every available legal device to protect these buyers and borrowers because such merchants contribute sig- nificantly to keeping poor people poor. Civil rights are meaningless unless they are accompanied by economic rights." 

Two weeks ago, the LDF won another significant consumer protec- tion case--the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court which held that it was unconstitutional to garnishee a man's wages without a prior court hearing. 
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NOTE: Please bear in mind that the LDF is a completely separate and distinct organization even though we were established by the NAACP and those initials are retained in our name. Our correct designation is NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., frequently shortened to LDF. 

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