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The Contract Buyers League and the Courts: A Case Study of Poverty Litigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Jeffrey M. Fitzgerald
Jeffrey M. Fitzgerald*
Affiliation:
La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia
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Extract

The Contract Buyers League (C.B.L.), a group of middle-aged black people claiming to have been over-charged and exploited in the purchase of their homes, emerged on Chicago's west side during the winter of 1967-68. From 1968 to 1971 C.B.L. gained considerable publicity and support for its claims by the use of such tactics as picketing, withholding housing payments, and resisting attempts at eviction. In addition, the members of C.B.L. have had a complicated set of encounters with the legal system which continue at the time of writing (August 1974). This paper uses the most significant of these encounters to explore in a more theoretical way certain aspects of litigation involving poor and minority groups.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 9 , Issue 2: Litigation and Dispute Processing: Part II , Winter 1975 , pp. 165 - 195
Copyright
Copyright © 1975 The Law and Society Association

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Footnotes

*

This paper is based upon my unpublished Ph.D. dissertation which was submitted to Northwestern University in 1972. This study was made possible by a Russell Sage Foundation residency fellowship. The cooperation of many members of the Contract Buyers Leaque and their advisors and lawyers is gratefully acknowledged, as is the collaboration of James Alan McPherson, and the encouragement of Richard Schwartz.

References

Cases

Alexander v. Hamilton Corp., No. 69-L-12709 (Cook County Cir. Ct., Ill. 1969), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 290 N.E.2d 589 (Ill. 1972).Google Scholar
Contract Buyers League v. F. and F. Investment, 300 F. Supp. 210 (N.D. Ill., E.D. 1969), aff'd sub nom. Baker v. F. and F. Investment, 420 F.2d 1191 (7th Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 821 (1970).Google Scholar
Contract Buyers League v. Universal Builders, Inc., No. 69-C-115 (N.D. Ill., E.D. 1969), aff'd sub nom. Clark v. Universal Builders, Inc., 420 F.2d 1191 (7th Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 821 (1970), 501 F.2d 324 (1974).Google Scholar
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Reid v. Arceneaux, 63 Ill. App. 2d 113 (1965).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosewood Corp. v. Fisher, No. 69-M1-61118 (Cook County Cir. Ct., Ill., 1969), rev'd per curiam, 46 Ill. 2d 249 (1970).Google Scholar
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