PRINTER SEEKS RULING AGAINST HILL BROTHERS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 24, 1992                   TAG: 9201240245
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG                                LENGTH: Short
PRINTER SEEKS RULING AGAINST HILL BROTHERS
An Atlanta-based printer has asked a federal court to throw out pleadings of Hill Brothers president Walter Eugene Hoffman and rule against Hoffman and the Lynchburg-based mail order shoe company in a suit seeking $551,000.
Alexander W. Bell, an attorney for Foote & Davies of Atlanta, cited the failure of Hoffman and other Hill Brothers representatives to appear at a deposition scheduled for Jan. 13 in the motion. Hoffman informed Foote & Davies officials that he would not attend the deposition about 40 minutes before it was to start, saying he was meeting with attorneys, court papers say.
Bell accuses Hoffman of attempting to stall the proceedings.
Foote & Davies filed the suit in October, charging Hill Brothers, its parent, First Commonwealth Investment Catalog Co., and Hoffman with failing to pay for catalogs printed in 1989 and 1990. A Jan. 29 hearing on the motions is set in Danville. The trial is scheduled for Feb. 4.
Hill Brothers has been the subject of thousands of consumer complaints since January 1989 and the U.S. Postal Service has tried twice to halt delivery of its mail. Both attempts resulted in agreements.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB