The Washington State Attorney General’s Office's Consumer Protection Division enforces the state’s Consumer Protection Act. The resolution of lawsuits brought by this division often recovers costs and fees incurred in bringing the action, restitution for consumers and civil penalties which go to the general fund.
The Attorney General attempts to restore direct restitution to consumers wherever it is reasonably feasible to do so. However, sometimes it is impossible to identify each consumer who was harmed, or the amount of money available for each affected consumer makes it impractical to distribute money directly to consumers. In these situations, the courts might allow a "cy pres" distribution, which means that instead of individual payments, an indirect use will be allowed. Cy pres means "as near as possible" and requires that the funds be distributed in a manner that benefits the category of consumers harmed by the illegal conduct. Each court order will have specific language setting forth the restrictions on use, but the language must match the allegations in the complaint and describe what category of consumers was harmed. Therefore, grants will be awarded only to applicants whose programs match the specific type of harm addressed by the action.
In 2009, the legislature passed a bill requiring the Attorney General's Office to: "annually report to the fiscal committees of the legislature all new cy pres awards and settlements and all new accounts, disclosing their intended uses, balances, the nature of the claim or account, proposals, and intended time frames for the expenditure of each amount. The report shall be distributed electronically and posted on the attorney general's web site. The report shall not be printed on paper or distributed physically."
Page last updated: November 3, 2021
Case Name | Healing Heroes Network | |
Cause No.: | 18-2-17976-9 SEA | |
Court: | King County Superior Court | |
Date Filed: | January 14, 2021 | |
Nature of Claim: | Misleading Donors and Deceptive Promotional Advertising | |
Court Ordered Use of Funds: | Distribute funds to a tax-exempt charitable organization that provides services to veterans of the United States military or to persons presently serving in the United States military. | |
Distribution Timeframe: | 6-May-21 | |
Grant Recipient | Amount Awarded | Proposal Status |
Intrepid Fallen Heros Fund | $ 95,000.00 | Accepted |
Beginning Account Balance: | $ 95,000.00 | |
Grant Amounts Awarded: | $ 95,000.00 | |
Account Balance: | $ - |
Case Name: | Abbott Laboratories |
Cause No.: | 12-2-16319-7 |
Court: | King County Superior Court |
Date filed: | 5/7/2012 |
Nature of Claim: | Bypassing regulatory process to engage in promotion of off-label uses for Depakote. |
Court-Ordered Use of Funds: | Direct treatment, medication, or counseling to persons suffering from schizophrenia, dementia or autism. |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Washington Health Foundation ($180,000) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Alzheimer's Association of Western & Central Washington State ($174,075) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | The Arc of Snohomish County ($150,000) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | United Way of King County ($220,000) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Open Doors for Multicultural Families ($372,167) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Encompass Northwest ($27,456) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital Charitable Foundation ($70,020) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | University of Washington Autism Center ($539,428) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | University of Washington Medical-Legal Partnership ($268,285) |
Distribution Timeframe: | Completed January 2013 |
Beginning Account Balance: | $ 2,001,431 |
Grant Amount Awarded: | $2,001,431 |
Account Balance: | $ 0 |
Case Name: | National Mortgage Settlement State Implementation |
Cause No.: | 12-0361 |
Court: | U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts for the District of Columbia |
Date Filed: | 4/04/2012 |
Proposals Received: | Document |
Nature of Claim: | Settlement between the state attorneys general and the five leading bank mortgage servicers requiring comprehensive reforms of mortgage loan servicing. |
Court-Ordered Use of Funds: | For projects to help Washington homeowners avoid preventable foreclosures or to ameliorate the effects of the foreclosure crisis. |
Amount of Money To Be Awarded as Grants: | $43,800,000 |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Aberdeen Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. ($2,000,000) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Catholic Charities Housing Services ($393,563) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | El Centro de la Raza ($600,000) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | HomeSight ($2,145,800) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Homestead Community Land Trust ($1,000,000) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Legal Foundation of Washington ($13,053,044) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Lifelong AIDS Alliance ($2,000,000) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Resolution Washington ($2,137,700) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners ($3,074,354) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | City of Tacoma/Tacoma Community Redevelopment Authority ($3,860,000) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Washington Homeownership Resource Center ($950,000) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | Washington State Housing Finance Commission ($12,273,689) |
Grant Recipient/Amount Awarded: | White Center Community Development Association ($311,850) |
Grants Awarded: | August 2012 |
Grant Amount Awarded: | $ 43,800,000 |
Account Balance: | $ 0 |
Case Name: | CHI Franciscan Antitrust |
Cause No.: | 17-cv-05690-BHS |
Court: | U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Tacoma |
Date Judgment Filed: | 6/28/2019 |
Nature of Claim: | Decreasing competition for primary care and orthopedics services on the Kitsap Peninsula and Bainbridge Island. |
Court-Ordered Use of Funds: | Increasing access to healthcare or availability of healthcare services for residents of Kitsap Peninsula and Bainbridge Island. |
Grant Recipient / Amount Awarded | West Sound Free Clinic ($64,697.34) |
Proposal Status: | Accepted |
Grant Recipient / Amount Awarded | Squamish Tribe Wellness Center ($209,119.96) |
Proposal Status: | Accepted |
Grant Recipient / Amount Awarded | Peninsula Community Health Services ($1,672,709.81) |
Proposal Status: | Accepted |
Grant Recipient / Amount Awarded | Kitsap Mental Health Services ($333,650.51) |
Proposal Status: | Accepted |
Grant Recipient / Amount Awarded | Bremerton Health Center Location of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and Hawaiian Islands ($219,822.38) |
Proposal Status: | Accepted |
Distribution Timeframe: | Completed December 12, 2019 |
Beginning Account Balance: | $2,500,000 |
Grant Amounts Awarded: | $2,500,000 |
Account Balance: | $0 |