Facts

Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. (dba Conde Nast) is a media publishing corporation incorporated in New York and doing business in San Diego County. Conde Nast publishes the magazines Allure, Golf Digest, GQ, Architectural Digest, Bon Appetit, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, W, Wired, Teen Vogue, and Self, among others. In July 2017, Saul Granillo responded to an offer to receive six issues of Vogue magazine for $6. In November 2017, Granillo was charged $21.99 for the ongoing subscription to Vogue by Conde Nast. In August 2017, Jennifer Fite provided Conde Nast her credit card details for a one-year subscription to Vanity Fair magazine for $5. Conde Nast charged Fite's credit card $12 in September 2018 for the ongoing subscription to Vanity Fair. On September 27, 2019, Granillo and Fite filed a class action against Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc. in the Superior Court of San Diego, alleging violations of California Automatic Renewal Law, seeking a return of all subscription amounts paid by the putative class members. On November 1, 2019, Conde Nast removed the case to the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. The class included all individuals, who between September 27, 2015, and May 27, 2020, enrolled in an automatic renewal or continuous service program directly through Conde Nast for a Conde Nast publication and were charged for at least one renewal for such publication and who used a California street address as the shipping or billing address for that publication, excluding the judicial officers in the case and those voluntarily excluded. The parties participated in a full-day mediation before Jill R. Sperber before eventually reaching a settlement.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs contended that defendant enrolled them in an automatic renewal magazine subscription without first presenting them with an automatic renewal offer terms, charged their credits cards and third party payments accounts without first obtaining their affirmative consent to an agreement containing clear and conspicuous disclosures of the automatic renewal offer terms, and failed to provide them with an acknowledgement that included clear and conspicuous disclosures of the automatic renewal offer terms, cancellation policy, information regarding how to cancel in accordance with the California Automatic Renewal Law . Plaintiffs maintained that as a result of these violations, defendant engaged in unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business acts or practices. Plaintiffs alleged that they were unaware of the automatic renewal subscription program when they purchased their program that if they had known they would not have responded to the offer or paid defendants any money.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant denied all contentions, including any liability, fault, or wrongdoing or that plaintiffs' claims are suitable for class certification other than for purposes of this settlement.

Result

$1,731,124 settlement. Conde Nast also agreed to implement policies reasonably designed to ensure compliance with the California Automatic Renewal Law.