Hearst Tower in New York City. (By Flip666 via Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 1.0)
SAN DIEGO (CN) Californians who subscribed to cooking, home improvement and women’s interest magazines published by the Hearst media conglomerate will see their false advertising class action proceed as a federal judge this week declined the company’s request to dismiss their case.
U.S. District Judge William Hayes found California magazine subscribers sufficiently alleged Hearst violated the state’s Automatic Renewal Law and Unfair Competition Law through its alleged false advertising of temporary one and two-year magazine subscriptions.
The women claim after paying for the temporary subscriptions, they were included in an automatic annual renewal program and their credit cards were charged without their consent.