Symantec are in trouble after a New York man woke up a few weeks back, opened a letter from his bank and found that his credit card had been charged for an automatic renewal to Norton Antivirus. The man is now suing the security experts, alleging that the company did not notify him before charging $76 (€56) to his credit card.

The lawsuit comes seven months after the New York Attorney General’s office fined Symantec $375,000 (€274,000) for the practice and ordered it to give notice before renewing any subscription.

Back then, that fine related to automatic renewals, investigated by the New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, who announced at the time that his office had reached a settlement with Symantec and McAfee over consumer charges that the companies didn’t get users’ approval to automatically bill them, and had made it difficult for customers to opt out or obtain refunds.

A ComputerWorld report notes how this time around a lawsuit has been filed in a New York County court by Kenneth Elan of Port Washington, NY, who purchased a copy of Norton Antivirus in 2007. Early in November 2009, Symantec told him that it had automatically renewed his license to the software for one year, and charged his credit card $76.03. Elan said he had not been notified prior to the charge hitting his card.

Elan’s lawsuit claimed that Symantec had not abided by the settlement. “Prior to the automatic renewal, defendant failed to offer plaintiff an opportunity to decline to renew the license for another year,” the lawsuit maintained. “If plaintiff had notice of an opportunity to decline the automatic renewal, plaintiff would not have renewed the license.”

Symantec has not yet responded to Elan’s lawsuit, according to court records.