Other LanguagesAttorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that Synapse Group, the country’s top magazine subscription company, must return all of the money it charged more than 2,000 Washington consumers for deceptive auto-renewals, an estimated total of $125,000. These customers bought magazine subscriptions at a highly discounted promotional rate of $2. However, the company did not clearly disclose that these $2 subscriptions would auto-renew at full price. In addition to the checks themselves, Synapse is also required to pay the Attorney General’s Office $750,000 for reasonable attorney costs and fees, future monitoring and enforcement of today’s resolution, and future enforcement of the Consumer Protection Act.
OLYMPIA — In response to concerns raised by consumer complaints and news reports, Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued guidance today for third-party restaurant delivery services. The guidance is aimed at helping the companies avoid violations of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act.
SEATTLE — A King County Superior Court judge today found AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp., one of the largest prescription opioid distributors in the world, in contempt of court for failing to turn over important documents and attempting to shield key witnesses from testifying. AmerisourceBergen is one of the three companies Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued in March 2019 for unlawfully contributing to Washington state’s opioid epidemic.
SEATTLE — A King County Superior Court Commissioner ordered an Auburn property management company to pay a total of half a million dollars in restitution for impacted Washingtonians and financial penalties. The company’s owner hijacked the homes of people who hired his company by adding new walls and rooms without the owners’ knowledge or consent and refusing to pay homeowners.
SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that Christopher Lischewski, formerly the CEO of Bumble Bee brand tuna, will pay $100,000 to Washington for his role in a canned tuna price-fixing scheme that artificially inflated the price of tuna from the three largest national brands: Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea and StarKist.
OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s fifth annual Data Breach Report, released today, showed that the number of Washingtonians affected by breaches nearly doubled in the last year and ransomware attacks tripled.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson today secured a court order against Health Insurance Team, a Seattle-based insurance company, for imitating the official state-run health insurance exchange. Ferguson’s complaint, filed today along with the order, asserts that Health Insurance Team’s marketing violated the Consumer Protection Act’s prohibition on deceptive advertising.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson today filed a consumer protection lawsuit against e-cigarette company JUUL. Ferguson’s lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, asserts JUUL violated the state Consumer Protection Act by designing and marketing its products to appeal to underage consumers and deceiving consumers about the addictiveness of its product. JUUL’s unlawful conduct fueled a pervasive and staggering rise in e-cigarette use and nicotine addiction among youth.
A King County Superior Court judge today ordered Vancouver, Wash.-based air duct cleaning companies and their owner to pay civil penalties of $10 million in Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s lawsuit over deceptive advertisements and robocalls. By law these penalties will be directed to the state’s general fund. The companies made over 13 million robocalls within Washington state from 2017 to 2019, including calling more than 500 individual Washington consumers over 100 times.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that automaker Honda must change its corporate practices as a result of an investigation by state attorneys general into Honda’s use of defective, dangerous airbags made by Takata, a now-defunct manufacturer that worked closely with Honda.