Legal Research

Lexis settles with Florida AG for $2 Million

By Simon Chester

Here is a link to the settlement that Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced this morning to resolve a dispute about Matthew Bender’s subscription renewal practices.

There was a similar settlement and statement involving Thompson Legal Publishing - which is different from the Thomson we all know in Eagan - last year.

As part of the settlement, all Florida customers who paid for automatic shipments will be offered refunds. The companies also will pay $275,000 to the Florida State University Law School?s Richard W. Ervin Eminent Scholar Chair and $2 million to the attorney general?s office for attorneys’ fees and costs, future investigation and enforcement. The companies also agreed to change their business practices nationwide so that automatic shipment arrangements and automatic renewal subscriptions are entered into only after all appropriate disclosures are provided to customers, and customers agree to purchase the publications.

The Florida Attorney General statement reads:

Attorney General Negotiates Settlement With Publishing Company, LexisNexis
~ Settlement resolves nationwide issues related to automatic subscription renewals ~

TALLAHASSEE, FL - Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that his office has reached an agreement with Matthew Bender and Company, Inc. and related company Reed Elsevier, Inc., which does business as LexisNexis. Matthew Bender and Company, Inc. manufactures and sells publications, books, newsletters and other products to lawyers, libraries, and government agencies nationwide. The settlement resolved issues related to the companies? automatic subscription renewal policy and automatic shipment plans. LexisNexis contributes to the advertising and sale of Matthew Bender products.

The Attorney General?s Economic Crimes Division began investigating Matthew Bender and Reed Elsevier after a staff member with the Attorney General?s Office received a Florida Bar publication which he had not ordered, together with a bill stating that he owed Matthew Bender for the cost of the book. The investigation revealed that Matthew Bender sent new editions and updates of publications automatically to customers who had previously purchased the publications, sometimes several years prior, and renewed annual subscriptions automatically, allegedly without specific consent from consumers.

As part of the settlement, refunds will be offered to all Florida customers who paid for automatic shipments of Florida Bar publications or who received their first automatic shipments of certain types of publications after February 13, 2005. Matthew Bender will send claim forms to all customers who are entitled to request refunds. The companies will also pay $275,000 to the Florida State University Law School?s Richard W. Ervin Eminent Scholar Chair, which was established in 1999 by then-Attorney General Bob Butterworth.

In addition to the payment to the law school and the customer refunds, the companies will pay $2 million to the Attorney General?s Office for attorneys’ fees and costs and for future investigation and enforcement. The companies will also modify their practices nationwide to ensure that automatic shipment arrangements and automatic renewal subscriptions of Matthew Bender publications are entered into only after all appropriate disclosures detailed in the agreement are provided to customers and the customers provide affirmative consent to the terms. The companies cooperated fully with the Attorney General?s investigation.

This is the second agreement reached with companies in the law book industry which use automatic shipments to distribute publications to libraries, government agencies and law firms in Florida. The earlier agreement was reached with Thompson Publishing Group, Inc. in May 2008.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on April 15, 2009 (boomark / email).