Legal Question in Consumer Law in Washington

Re: newspaper subscription

You should pay the newspaper because they gave you what you had contracted for - the paper - and you did not give them notice of your intent to not renew the subscription.

There is a species of contract that is based on conduct - where one party performs and sends statements, or purchase orders, or other evidence of the ongoing agreement, and if the other party does not affirmatively end the agreement, then the Court is likely to find that they acquiesced by continuing to accept the services or the product.

That said, they are so desperate for circulation numbers that if you formally cancel your subscription, they'll send it to you for free for three months or so.

But if it got to court, a judge would say you owe it in the absence of a writing saying "stop sending me the paper".

Hope this helps. Elizabeth Powell