Other LanguagesAttorney General Bob Ferguson today filed a lawsuit against the collegiate sorority Alpha Omicron Pi for unlawfully charging University of Washington (UW) students more than $6,000 in rent even though the students could not access or live in sorority housing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Alpha Omicron Pi, a national, Tennessee-based sorority, also illegally charged late fees and threatened students with suspensions of their sorority memberships and damage to their credit if they did not pay.
SPOKANE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced a Hayden, Idaho low-income housing provider, Whitewater Creek, will pay $50,000 after evidence revealed they illegally threatened tenants in April 2020 with eviction. In order to resolve Ferguson’s lawsuit, Whitewater Creek entered into a legally enforceable agreement to make this payment and will take additional accountability measures to avoid future violations of law. The Attorney General filed the resolution to his lawsuit in Spokane County Superior Court.
TACOMA — A Tacoma judge has ordered over $41,000 in penalties and mandatory training for a FedEx contractor and its owner for firing a pregnant employee immediately after she asked for an accommodation. An accommodation is a reasonable change to the working environment to accommodate the pregnancy and the health conditions after the birth of the baby. The judge’s decision came in the first case brought to trial by the Attorney General’s Office under the 2017 “Healthy Starts Act.”
OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that a federal judge struck down the Trump Administration’s latest attempt to gut the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The judge, in granting Ferguson’s motion for summary judgment, ruled that this latest DACA rollback violated federal law.
SPOKANE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit today against an Idaho property management company, Whitewater Creek, for violating Gov. Jay Inslee’s Emergency Evictions Proclamation. Inslee’s proclamation establishes a temporary moratorium on evictions for the inability to pay rent as Washingtonians deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The proclamation specifically prohibits landlords from threatening to evict tenants for unpaid rents during the proclamation’s effective period and specifies they have to enter into repayment plans with tenants.
OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s new rule vastly limiting anti-discrimination protections under the Affordable Care Act. Among many other changes, the rule removes explicit protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex stereotyping. This allows for discrimination against LGBTQ patients — particularly transgender patients.
OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s Multidisciplinary Hate Crime Advisory Working Group released its report to the Legislature and Gov. Jay Inslee today, outlining a comprehensive approach to better address hate crimes in Washington. The group calls on the state to improve training for law enforcement, create new avenues for prosecutors to charge crimes and for schools and employers to better educate people about hate and bias.
SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued the following statement:
TACOMA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today that Nevada-based JRK Residential Group Inc. will pay nearly $350,000 — including almost $300,000 directly to tenants in the form of refunds, payments and rent forgiveness — to resolve a lawsuit Ferguson filed in April over the company’s violations of the state’s emergency eviction moratorium. Ferguson’s lawsuit was the first filed to enforce one of Gov. Jay Inslee’s emergency proclamations.
TACOMA — Today Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit against JRK Residential Group, Inc. for violating Governor Inslee’s Emergency “Evictions” Proclamation. Inslee’s “Evictions” Proclamation establishes a temporary moratorium on evictions for the inability to pay rent. The Proclamation specifically prohibits landlords from issuing Notices to Pay or Vacate during the proclamation’s effective period.