Cy Pres Awards | Washington State

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office's Consumer Protection Division enforces the state’s Consumer Protection Act. The resolution of lawsuits brought by this division often recovers costs and fees incurred in bringing the action, restitution for consumers and civil penalties which go to the general fund.

The Attorney General attempts to restore direct restitution to consumers wherever it is reasonably feasible to do so. However, sometimes it is impossible to identify each consumer who was harmed, or the amount of money available for each affected consumer makes it impractical to distribute money directly to consumers. In these situations, the courts might allow a "cy pres" distribution, which means that instead of individual payments, an indirect use will be allowed. Cy pres means "as near as possible" and requires that the funds be distributed in a manner that benefits the category of consumers harmed by the illegal conduct. Each court order will have specific language setting forth the restrictions on use, but the language must match the allegations in the complaint and describe what category of consumers was harmed. Therefore, distribution of funds will be made only to applicants whose programs match the specific type of harm addressed by the action.

In 2009, the legislature passed a bill requiring the Attorney General's Office to: "annually report to the fiscal committees of the legislature all new cy pres awards and settlements and all new accounts, disclosing their intended uses, balances, the nature of the claim or account, proposals, and intended time frames for the expenditure of each amount. The report shall be distributed electronically and posted on the attorney general's web site. The report shall not be printed on paper or distributed physically."

Page last updated: June 12, 2024

Case Name	Healing Heroes Network
Cause No.:	18-2-17976-9 SEA
Court:	King County Superior Court
Date Filed:	January 14, 2021
Nature of Claim:	Misleading Donors and Deceptive Promotional Advertising
Court Ordered Use of Funds:	Distribute funds to a tax-exempt charitable organization that provides services to veterans of the United States military or to persons presently serving in the United States military.
Distribution Timeframe:	May 6, 2021
Recipient	Amount Awarded	Proposal Status
Intrepid Fallen Heros Fund	$                 95,000.00	Accepted
Beginning Account Balance:	$                 95,000.00
Amounts Awarded:	$                 95,000.00
Account Balance:	$                                -

 

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Case Name	EGP Investments
Cause No.:	18-2-23698-3 SEA
Court:	King County Superior Court
Date Filed:	November 7, 2019
Nature of Claim:	Operated collection agencies without being licensed and sent initial collection notices to consumers that failed to identify and disclose interest.
Court Ordered Use of Funds:	Debt counseling or similar services offered to Washington consumers.
Distribution Timeframe:
Recipient	Amount Awarded	Proposal Status
Northwest Consumer Law Center	$                   40,030.51	Accepted
Beginning Account Balance:	$                   40,030.51
Amounts Awarded:	$                   40,030.51
Account Balance:	$                                  -

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Case Name	CHI  Franciscan Antitrust
Cause No.:	17-cv-05690-BHS
Court:	U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Tacoma
Date Filed:	June 28, 2019
Nature of Claim:	Decreasing competition for primary care and orthopedics services on the Kitsap Peninsula and Bainbridge Island.
Court Ordered Use of Funds:	Increasing access to healthcare or availability of healthcare services for residents of Kitsap Peninsula and Bainbridge Island.
Distribution Timeframe:	Completed December 12, 2019
Recipient	Amount Awarded	Proposal Status
West Sound Free Clinic	$                   64,697.34	Accepted
Squamish Tribe Wellness Center	$                   209,119.96	Accepted
Peninsula Community Health Services	$                   1,672,709.81	Accepted
Kitsap Mental Health Services	$                   333,650.51	Accepted
Bremerton Health Center Location of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and Hawaiian Islands	$                   219,822.38	Accepted
Beginning Account Balance:	$                   2,500,000
Amounts Awarded:	$                   2,500,000
Account Balance:	$                                  -

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Case Name	State of Washington v. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. and Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC
Cause No.:	13-2-02593-9
Court:	Snohomish County Superior Court
Date Filed:	February 4, 2015
Nature of Claim:	Unfair or deceptive practices in the rating of structured finance securities.
Court Ordered Use of Funds:	“…shall be distributed at the sole discretion of the Attorney General for cy pres to remediate effects of the mortgage and financial crisis...”
Distribution Timeframe:	Completed May 2015
Recipient	Amount Awarded	Proposal Status
Cowlitz Tribal Health	$                   123,354	Accepted
Family Support Center of South Sound	$                   62,329	Accepted
King County Bar Foundation	$                   150,000	Accepted
Northwest Consumer Law Center	$                   1,000,000	Accepted
Resolution Washington	$                   656,612	Accepted
Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Foundation	$                   200,000	Accepted
Washington State Housing Finance Commission	$                   807,788	Accepted
Beginning Account Balance:	$                   3,000,000
Amounts Awarded:	$                   3,000,000
Account Balance:	$                                  -