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Publisher hit with $1.2M bill for illegal billing

By Tom Zucco, Times Staff Writer
Posted: May 13, 2008 07:51 PM

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How's this for bad timing? Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum's law librarian received a publication she did not order and was subsequently billed for it. She told McCollum, who launched an investigation. Tuesday, McCollum said he reached an agreement with Thompson Publishing Group Inc., a Tampa business that markets and sells books and other publications to government agencies, law firms and businesses. Under the agreement, Thompson must set aside $1.2-million for refunds to customers who were billed for materials they did not request. Thompson also has to reimburse the state $450,000 for the cost of its investigation. According to McCollum, in 2006 Thompson began enrolling many of its customers who purchased books and other publications in an "Automatic Update Program." Under the program, Thompson periodically sent publications to customers without receiving a prior order.