Hearst Communications Avoids Suit Over Sale of Mailing Lists

Hearst Communications Inc. won’t have to face a proposed class action alleging it violated the Illinois Right of Publicity Act when it sold mailing lists containing the personal information of more than 9 million magazine subscribers, a federal court of appeals ruled.

The IRPA didn’t apply to the sale of customer lists because the personal information contained in them wasn’t used to elicit the sale of something else, Judge Joel M. Flaum of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit said Tuesday, affirming a lower court ruling granting Hearst’s motion to dismiss.

Elizabeth Huston argued on appeal that ...