September 25, 2006

 

Motorists nationwide are filing class action lawsuits against  state agencies for advertisements they received in state registration packets.

The suits say that  the use of motorists' names and addresses for commercial purposes is prohibited by federal law.

 

Harvey Ressler of Kansas City, Missouri believes the state  broke federal law when they partnered with a marketing service company to deliver unwanted ads in his mail. He has filed a class action lawsuit against the State and Imagitas, Inc.

Earlier this year, Fidelity Federal Bank & Trust of West Palm Beach, Florida agreed to pay  $50 million in a similar class-action lawsuit for buying 565,600 names of motorists for advertising purposes from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles,

Motorists in New York, Ohio, Florida and Minnesota have filed similar suits against Imagitas, a Pitney Bowes subsidiary, for advertising the company placed inside automobile registration packets mailed to millions of car owners.

The Missouri Department of Revenue partnered with the targeted marketing services company earlier this year by putting advertisements in vehicle registration renewal packets.

Imagitas has similar deals with New York, Ohio, Minnesota and Missouri.