Other LanguagesSEATTLE — As a result of a lawsuit brought by Attorney General Bob Ferguson, 39 other attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), two national companies that made more than 1.7 million robocalls for sham charities into Washington state will pay $495,000 to help fund legitimate charities. One company has since gone out of business and today’s lawsuit requires another one to dissolve.
OLYMPIA — The Washington state Senate today passed Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s bill to prohibit price gouging in Washington during an emergency by a 29-20 vote. The bill now heads to the state House of Representatives for consideration.
OLYMPIA — On Monday afternoon, by an overwhelmingly bipartisan 46-2 vote, state senators passed a bill Attorney General Bob Ferguson requested to create a database of police use-of-force incidents so the public, policymakers, researchers and law enforcement can access the data. Currently in Washington state, there is no central repository for use-of-force data.
Today Attorney General Bob Ferguson released the I-940 Independent Investigation Inquiry Report. Ferguson’s inquiry into investigations reviewing police use of deadly force in the first half of 2020 found that the majority of investigating teams complied with most of the state’s new independent investigation requirements. However, some investigations failed to include at least two non-law enforcement community representatives and comply with other key requirements.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a campaign finance lawsuit today against Google for unlawfully failing to maintain key information regarding state political ads that it sold, and failing to provide that information to individuals who requested it.
SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced a judge ruled that StarKist, a canned tuna manufacturer, engaged in a price-fixing scheme from November 2011 through December 2013. In a prior and unrelated federal case against StarKist, a federal judge sentenced the company to pay a $100 million criminal fine — the maximum allowed by law — for its role in a nationwide conspiracy to manipulate the price of canned tuna to benefit the company and its executives.
SEATTLE — A federal court of appeals ruled that the Trump Administration violated the law when it attempted to override state regulations governing the number of crewmembers needed to safely operate a train. Attorney General Bob Ferguson, along with two other states and national workers’ unions, brought the challenge in 2019 — when the Trump Administration published its deregulatory rule without any notice, and in the wake of a catastrophic and deadly derailment involving a crude-oil train staffed by only one crewmember.
OLYMPIA — The Attorney General’s Office is continuing its review of the Manuel Ellis case. While we are limited in what we can say about that review, we wanted to provide a short update of our work, and the anticipated timing of our decision.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that PurEnvironment, a Utah-based mold remediation company, pleaded guilty to environmental crimes charges Ferguson brought regarding the company’s false claims that its products could provide “90+ day protection” against COVID-19. King County Superior Court Judge Gregg H. Hirakawa sentenced the company to a year of probation, ordered to pay a $15,000 fine, and come into compliance with state and federal regulations.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that Great Columbia Berry Farms LLC, a blueberry grower in Walla Walla County, will pay $350,000 as a result of his office’s civil rights enforcement action. The lawsuit asserts one of the company’s managers, Jose Luis Contreras Ramirez, raped at least one female worker, sexually harassed several female workers over the course of years and retaliated against those workers who spoke out against his conduct. At least four women were affected by Contreras’s conduct.