Hearst Magazine Subscribers Advance Suit Over Automatic Renewal

Hearst Magazine Media Inc. must face a proposed class action by California customers who say the company’s practice of automatically renewing magazine subscriptions violates the state’s Automatic Purchase Renewals Statute and other consumer protection laws, a federal judge in San Diego ruled.

Hearst, which publishes dozens of magazines including Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, and Car & Driver, may have violated California law with its “continuous service program” and subscriber communications describing the program, Judge William Q. Hayes of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California held Wednesday.

He allowed the proposed class of California-based Hearst ...