Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

OLYMPIA - Attorney General Christine Gregoire announced today that the Williams Companies, Inc. and the Williams Energy Marketing and Trading Company will pay $15 million to resolve state claims that it participated in market manipulations and overcharges that caused electricity rates to skyrocket for Washington consumers over the winter of 2000-2001.
Vancouver - Ben Hasson, former Ridgefield assistant public works superintendent, was ordered today to serve time in jail for filing false reports with state regulators and violating the state sewage laws at the city's wastewater treatment plant.
SEATTLE -- Washington joined 21 other states and territories, the District of Columbia and federal regulators today in formally opposing the proposed merger of the country's two main satellite television services.
OLYMPIA -- A Missouri company that sells cigarettes over the Internet should be required to disclose its customers so the state can collect unpaid taxes, according to a lawsuit filed against the company by Attorney General Christine Gregoire.
SEATTLE - Oct. 24, 2002 - A company that promised consumers they could make money viewing advertising over the Internet will now use the Internet to offer restitution to the same consumers.
SEATTLE - The Attorney General's High-Tech unit today filed a lawsuit against an Olympia man who used Internet auction sites to sell valuable, vintage baseball cards that failed to live up to their promise -- if they were ever delivered at all.
OLYMPIA -- The state Attorney General's Office filed suit late yesterday against the National Education Association for illegally using fees paid to it by non-members for political purposes.
SEATTLE - A Missouri company that misled Washington consumers, many of them elderly, into believing they could win big prizes by solving easy puzzles has agreed to offer refunds to consumers and pay the state nearly $50,000 in costs and attorneys fees.
SEATTLE - In another significant victory for Washington's anti-spam law, A King County Superior Court judge today declared that misleading commercial e-mail sent to millions of people violated Washington's 1998 statute.
SEATTLE -- Health and nutrition programs in Washington could receive as much as $200,000 from an antitrust settlement with the manufacturer of a popular electric cooking grill, Attorney General Christine Gregoire said today.

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