Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

SEATTLE – All they wanted was to start an online business. But many Washington residents who agreed to pay thousands of dollars to a company called StoresOnline claim they were suckered. ... After accusing the company of deceptive sales practices, the Washington Attorney General’s Office today announced an agreement that provides refunds for StoresOnline customers, who include many elderly and people on limited incomes.
OLYMPIA— State officials are celebrating a court victory that walls off millions of acres of public lands from new development. On Wednesday the 9th Circuit Court ruled in favor of a lower court’s decision to turn back a 2005 effort to open up some federal lands to new road construction and the harvest of timber.
SEATTLE – Nearly 1,000 Washington residents who lost their homes to foreclosure are a step closer to receiving some money to ease their pain, Attorney General Rob McKenna announced today.
OLYMPIA – Attorneys general in 46 states served up some relief for DISH Network customers today. The satellite TV provider will pay nearly $6 million to settle allegations that the company and its third-party retailers engaged in deceptive and unfair sales practices.
SEATTLE – Marketers of the cholesterol-lowing drug Vytorin will pay $5.4 million to resolve an investigation by attorneys general into the companies’ delayed release of negative study results, Attorney General Rob McKenna announced today.
SEATTLE – In the aftermath of the mortgage industry shakedown, a new type of bottom-feeder is chomping at homeowners struggling to keep up with their loan payments. Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna announced today that his office joined the Federal Trade Commission and other states in a nationwide crackdown on foreclosure rescuers and loan modification businesses that charge hefty upfront fees and often provide no help.
SEATAC – The Washington Attorney General’s Office will hold a press conference at SeaTac Airport on Wednesday, July 15, at 12:30 p.m. to announce five new cases concerning loan modification and foreclosure rescue businesses that have solicited Washington homeowners, as well as additional initiatives that are part of a nationwide federal/state enforcement initiative.
They may have sent Joe Camel the way of the buffalo but that didn’t stop tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. from violating the 10-year-old agreement prohibiting the use of cartoons in tobacco advertising, the Division One Court of Appeals ruled today.
OLYMPIA – Attorney General Rob McKenna today made the following statement on Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Wickham’s ruling in Stenson v. Vail, rejecting claims challenging the constitutionality of the Department of Corrections’ protocol for execution by lethal injection.  The case impacts the pending executions of not just Darold Stenson, but two other Washington state death row inmates who joined the case, Cal Coburn Brown and Jonathan Gentry.
OLYMPIA – Attorney General Rob McKenna today praised the Federal Trade Commission for tackling a Tacoma company that preyed on financially strapped consumers. He urged consumers to take advantage of low-cost credit counseling services.

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