Ferguson File -- April 2024

Dear Friends,

Attorneys from my office logged several significant wins in cases before Washington courts, as well as in our ongoing opioids litigation. At any given time, we are handling more than 20,000 active cases and legal matters. Below are some important highlights for our work that protects consumers from unfair practices and improves public safety:

• By early April, more than 2,600 serious criminal offenders provided their DNA to law enforcement after previously failing to do so as required by law. As a result of our lawfully owed DNA project, these samples are now in a national DNA database critical to identifying perpetrators of unsolved rapes, murders and other violent crimes. Collecting lawfully owed DNA from qualifying offenders helps solve more crimes — here in Washington and across the country. Watch coverage of the story here: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/slipped-through-cracks-wa-ag-announces-dna-collection-violent-offenders/281-557cc103-b736-4454-8bcd-5305638ee611
• Our office signed onto a pending resolution with Kroger that will bring in $47.5 million to combat the opioid epidemic in Washington state. Half of these resources will go to the state and the other half will go to city and county governments. The resolution brings our total recoveries directed toward opioid abatement funding to more than $1.29 billion, with multiple ongoing and active cases against other drug companies still pending. You can see a chart of what cities or counties will receive from that $1.29 billion, which includes the future Kroger funds, here: https://agportal-s3bucket.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Updated%20local%20government%20payments%20-2024-04-22.xlsx?VersionId=.soWB.muKVIGuovy9CfiHY9rjl7i4XW

• Our antitrust lawsuit to block the proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons will continue after a King County Superior Court judge rejected the companies’ request to dismiss our case. In our lawsuit, filed in January, we assert the merger violates Washington antitrust law because it eliminates Kroger’s closest competitor and will cause consumers to pay more for less. Even company executives wrote to each other that the merger might be illegal. An Albertsons vice president wrote that, “you are basically creating a monopoly in grocery with the merger… [it] makes no sense.” The case is set to begin trial on September 16. More about that case here: https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/judge-rules-ag-ferguson-challenge-kroger-albertsons-merger-will-continue
• A federal judge agreed with our office that “pre-service” non-disclosure agreements Seattle plastic surgery provider Allure Esthetic and its owner, Dr. Javad Sajan, forced patients to sign violated a federal law protecting consumers’ rights to write truthful reviews about a business. The ruling backs our claim that the clinic broke the law by requiring more than 10,000 patients to sign illegal non-disclosure agreements before receiving any treatment. The penalties for any violations of the law will be determined at trial, which is scheduled for September. More about that case here: https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/federal-judge-rules-plastic-surgeon-acted-illegally-restricting-online-reviews
• Our attorneys won a court order in a lawsuit against repeat scammer Labor Law Poster Service and its Michigan-based owners that will block the company from deceiving Washington businesses. A King County Superior Court judge granted our request for a preliminary injunction, agreeing that their mailers are deceptive and our case has a “high likelihood of success on the merits.” The company illegally targeted thousands of Washington small businesses by mass mailing deceptive solicitations to dupe business owners into purchasing workplace posters they are not obligated to buy. The mailers were designed to imitate legitimate government communications. More about that case here: https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-court-orders-repeat-scammer-labor-law-poster-service-stop-contacting

• A King County Superior Court judge denied a motion to dismiss a Consumer Protection Act claim that is crucial to our pregnancy discrimination lawsuit against O’Reilly Auto Parts. In its motion to dismiss the CPA claim, O'Reilly argued, in part, that its public commitments about anti-discrimination were just “puffery” that no reasonable job applicant would take seriously. Our office takes protecting Washingtonians’ civil rights seriously. Our lawsuit asserts O’Reilly unlawfully refused pregnant workers reasonable workplace accommodations, such as the ability to sit or rest, limit how much they lift or handle hazardous materials, allow flexibility for restroom breaks and pump breastmilk for their newborn babies after returning to work postpartum. More about that case here: https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-files-lawsuit-against-o-reilly-auto-parts-discrimination-and

There is still a lot of work ahead for the lawfully owed DNA project, opioids litigation and our lawsuits on behalf of Washingtonians. Our more than 1,800 attorneys and staff are focused every day on protecting the health and safety of everyone in the state.

Thanks for following the work of my office.

Sincerely,

Bob Ferguson
Washington State Attorney General