Dow Jones, Forbes ask judge to dismiss suit

Dow Jones & Co., and Forbes have asked a federal judge to dismiss a proposed class action that accuses them of allowing a subscription company to defraud their customers by overcharging for renewals and pocketing the difference.

Lisa Hoffman of the National Law Journal writes, “In a July 24 joint motion to dismiss , the publishers attacked New York consumer Stephen Rabin’s complaint accusing them of conspiracy, fraud and negligence, calling the action entirely without substance, lacking ‘a single allegation of fact’ and based on conclusory assumptions about the defendants as a group without pleading specific alleged acts.

“New York plaintiff Stephen Rabin’s complaint, filed on June 23, alleges the companies have sold or provided subscription lists to a company called Circulation Billing Systems, which handled billing for renewals to the Times and Wall Street Journal newspapers, Forbes magazine and Barron’s magazine, owned by Dow Jones.

“Armed with the lists, Circulation Billing allegedly sent official-looking “renewal notices” that would quote prices higher than the real rate, then pay the publishing companies the correct rate and pocket the difference, according to the complaint, Rabin v. The New York Times, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Sometimes, the complaint alleges, the billing company kept all the money sent in.”