News Releases

SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that, in order to avoid a lawsuit, five additional corporate chains eliminated no-poach practices nationwide, entering into legally enforceable agreements to remove the clauses from franchise contracts. The five chains have 73 locations in Washington and more than 2,500 locations nationwide. This brings the total number of corporate chains that have signed legally binding agreements with Ferguson to 62.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today that CHI Franciscan will pay up to $2.5 million to resolve a federal antitrust lawsuit Ferguson filed against the Tacoma-based non-profit health system in 2017. CHI Franciscan is also required to divest its controlling interest in an outpatient surgery center it acquired in Silverdale, restoring competition for services on the Kitsap Peninsula.

OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson and 43 other attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Teva Pharmaceuticals, the largest generic drug manufacturer in the world, and 20 other companies for conspiring in secret to increase prices of 116 common medications, including everyday antibiotics, antidepressants, contraceptives and statins.

As a result of Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s lawsuit, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has provided more than 1,700 pages of communications previously not made public between the EPA and advisory committee members in the wake of its 2017 policy barring scientists who receive grants from the agency from serving on the committees.

OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced a new policy that requires the Attorney General’s Office to obtain free, prior and informed consent before initiating a program or project that directly and tangibly affects tribes, tribal rights, tribal lands and sacred sites. Attorney General Ferguson also announced that his office will refrain from filing any litigation against a tribal government or tribal-owned business without first engaging in meaningful consultation to resolve the dispute, provided that doing so does not violate the rules of professional conduct.

SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that Amazon will commit to nationwide corporate reforms after his office’s investigation found dozens of children’s school supplies sold on its online marketplace had illegal levels of toxic metals lead and cadmium.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that, as a result of his lawsuit, St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma and seven other CHI Franciscan hospitals will forgive as much as $20 million in debt, pay $2.22 million in refunds, pay the Attorney General’s Office $2.46 million, and rehabilitate the credit of thousands of patients who qualified for charity care between 2012 and 2017 but did not receive it. CHI Franciscan entered into a legally enforceable agreement to reform its charity care practices across all eight of its acute care hospitals. Attorney General Ferguson sued St. Joseph Medical Center, but the resolution involves charity care reforms for eight CHI Franciscan hospitals and provides restitution for patients withheld charity care at all eight hospitals.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued the following statement today after the Trump Administration announced that it is putting on indefinite hold its plan to open more than 90 percent of all federal waters to offshore drilling, including off the coast of Washington state.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued the following statement today after a federal judge granted a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the Trump Administration’s Title X family planning “gag rule.” The rule, which was scheduled to go into effect on May 3, impacts Title X, the federal funding program for reproductive healthcare and family planning services.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today that his office will offer a free legal clinic on Saturday for Spokane-area military service members and veterans in need of help with completing a will or reinstating their driver’s license.