Hearst Sells Personal Information of Magazine Subscribers, Say Good Housekeeping Readers in Class Actions

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Hearst Subscriber Mailing List Class Action Lawsuits Overview: 

• Who: Two Good Housekeeping readers lodged class action lawsuits against Hearst Communications, Inc.
• Why: The plaintiffs claim Hearst unlawfully rents and sells the personal information of its magazine subscribers to third parties.
• Where: The class action lawsuits are pending in New York federal court.

Hearst Communications, Inc. unlawfully rents and sells the sensitive personal information of its magazine subscribers to third parties, two new class action lawsuits allege.

Plaintiffs Dawn Begin and Cathy Ricketts both, Good Housekeeping readers, claim Hearst sells and rents subscribers’ names and likenesses to data miners, data aggregators, data appenders, data cooperatives, list brokers, and “aggressive” marketing companies, among others. 

Hearst Faces Mounting Class Action Lawsuits

Begin claims Hearst’s alleged practices are a violation of Ohio’s Right of Publicity Law while Rickett argues the magazine publisher violates South Dakota’s Right of Publicity Law. 

Begin wants to represent a Class of Ohio residents who had their names appear on a mailing list that Hearst sold to a third party, while Ricketts wants to represent a Class of South Dakota residents.

Begin — who says she is subscribed to Good Housekeeping and Woman’s Day magazine — claims Hearst puts its subscribers at risk by monetizing their names and likenesses. 

“While Hearst profits handsomely from the use of its customers’ identities in this way, it does so at the expense of its Ohio customers’ statutory right of publicity,” Begin says in her complaint. 

Begin argues the personal data can be purchased by any member of the public, who may then be able to use their identity and other demographic information for their own interests. 

Ricketts, meanwhile, claims her personal information was sold or rented to various parties after she was put on a mailing list due to her subscription to Good Housekeeping. 

Additionally, Ricketts claims Hearst sells and rents the personal information of all its more than 9 million subscribers — who are compiled on a mailing list named “Hearst Corporate Masterfile & Enhanced Mailing List.” 

Begin and Ricketts are both requesting injunctive relief along with statutory damages for themselves and all Class Members. Begin is also requesting punitive or exemplary damages. 

A similar class action lawsuit was filed earlier this month by a Cosmo subscriber who alleged Hearst sells the identity of its subscribers without their consent. 

In recent years, Hearst and another subscriber reached a $50 million class action settlement to resolve allegations that the media company sold consumer information and violated Michigan’s video privacy law.

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The plaintiffs are represented by Thomas L. Laughlin, IV, Rhiana Swartz, Joseph P. Guglielmo, Erin G. Comite, Sean T. Masson, and Carey Alexander of Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP. 

The Hearst Subscriber Mailing Lists Class Action Lawsuits are Begin v. Hearst Communications, Inc., Case No. 1:21-cv-09224, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and Ricketts v. Hearst Communications, Inc., Case No. 1:21-cv-09278, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

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• Mailing Lists Illegally Sold by Dozens of Publishers, Say Class Actions Lodged Against Forbes, Newsweek, Others
• Rodale Magazine Subscriber Privacy Class Action Settlement Checks Mailed
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