Hearst Magazine Will Answer to Subscription Class Action Lawsuit Claims

A federal judge rejected a request from Hearst Magazine Media to toss a class action lawsuit accusing the company of a deceptive auto-renew scheme.

Lead plaintiffs, Fenella Arnold, Kelly Nakai, and Michele Ruppert claimed that they signed up for what they thought were temporary subscriptions to Food Network Magazine, HGTV Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, and Oprah Magazine that cost a mere $2 each; however, after the trial period, they say they were automatically charged for another subscription costing more than $30 each.

The plaintiffs say Hearst failed to properly mention that its subscriptions would be automatically renewed. They say they would’ve never signed up for the magazines in the first place if they knew.

The consumers filed a class action lawsuit under California’s Automatic Renewal Law and Unfair Competition Law seeking to represent other California consumers who had been duped by the alleged auto-renew scheme. Hearst sought dismissal of the lawsuit, arguing that the terms of the auto-renew had been disclosed appropriately and that the company had not knowingly deceived consumers.

U.S. District Judge William Hayes disagreed, issuing an order preserving the plaintiffs’ claims under California auto-renew law on Feb. 10, 2021.

“Plaintiffs identify the allegedly deceptive terms on specific advertisements, emails, and webpages, as well as the dates when Plaintiffs received the advertisements and emails or viewed the webpages,” points out the order. “Plaintiffs attach copies of Defendants’ paper forms, emails, and webpages in their possession to the Complaint, which support Plaintiffs’ allegations that the terms of the continuous service program were not presented at all or were presented in text smaller than the surrounding text.”

Not all of the plaintiffs’ claims survived dismissal. Judge Hayes, noting that the class action lawsuit said the plaintiffs would not purchase Hearst magazine subscriptions in the future, trimmed claims for an injunction.

This is not the first class action lawsuit filed by Hearst magazine subscribers. In 2019, the company paid $50 million to settle claims by Michigan readers who say Hearst sold their personal information to advertisers in violation of state law.

Do you have a Hearst magazine subscription? Is it auto renewed? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below!

The lead plaintiffs and proposed Class Members are represented by James Hannink and Zach Dostart of Dostart Hannink & Coveney.

The Hearst Auto-Renew Magazine Subscription Class Action Lawsuit is Arnold, et al. v. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc., et al., Case No. 3:19-cv-01969-WQH-MDD, in the U.S. District Court Southern District of California.

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