Partner Gonzalo Mon Quoted in Legal NewsLine Article on Automatic Renewal Laws

Partner Gonzalo Mon was Quoted in the Legal NewsLine article ​“Class action lawyers can benefit from new push for automatic renewal laws; Two states and D.C. follow California’s lead.” The article discusses the recent changes to legislation in Washington, D.C. governing automatic renewals of certain subscription services, such as gyms and magazines.

Under the new law, companies are required to provide plain and unambiguous details of their automatic renewal and cancellation policies. On top of that, if an agreement between the consumer and the company has a kick-off term of a year or more and is scheduled to automatically renew for another term of at least one month, a business has the obligation to reach out to the consumer via text, email, or an in-app notification between 30 and 60 days before the account is renewed.

“Other states have similar laws,” Gonzalo was quoted as saying, elaborating that, ​“For example, a Virginia law governing automatic renewals came into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, and a Vermont law will come into effect on July 1, 2019. The laws vary a bit in their scope, but most have similar themes. A violation of the new (Washington, D.C.) law will render the automatic-renewal provision void and will terminate the contract at the end of the term in which the violation occurred.”

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