People Magazine Publishers Beat Appeal in Auto-Renewal Suit

Time Inc. and Meredith Corp. followed California law in automatically renewing a California reader’s subscription to People Magazine, the Ninth Circuit said, affirming dismissal of a would-be class suit.

Linda Hall asserted publishers Time and Meredith violated California’s Automatic Renewal Law when they automatically renewed her People Magazine subscription without first obtaining her explicit and “affirmative” consent, and by failing to disclose the automatic renewal “in a clear and conspicuous manner” and in “visual proximity” to the request for her consent.

But the automatic renewal notice on the checkout page satisfies the “clear and conspicuous” and “visual proximity” requirements, the ...