OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced the team that will facilitate the Washington State Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMIW/P) Task Force. Legislative appointments to the task force are expected later this month.

CHEHALIS — A Lewis County Superior Court judge entered an order of commitment Friday to civilly commit a sex offender after the Washington Attorney General’s Office filed a petition to remove him from community custody.

Blake Juan Garcia, 25, was convicted of child molestation in the first degree in 2010 and in the second degree in 2014. Garcia was in community custody in Lewis and King counties and had violated the terms of his release.

OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued the following statement after two key legal victories on Friday in Washington’s case against opioid distributors McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp.

“We won two more key victories in our case against the three largest opioid distributors for their role fueling the opioid epidemic by shipping hundreds of thousands of suspicious orders into Washington state.

Judge orders J&J to produce 100,000 documents the corporation has been hiding for years
 
SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson offers the following statement on a recent ruling in his lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson:

Ming’s Asian Gallery & Antiques and its owner plead guilty after illegally selling elephant ivory, marine turtle

SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today that a King County antique business and one of its owners pleaded guilty to trafficking in species threatened with extinction under a voter-approved initiative banning the sale or transfer of products made from certain endangered species.

Settlement spreads payment out over nearly two decades

New legal filing argues that a bankruptcy court doesn’t have the authority to prevent attorneys general from suing Sackler family

SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued the following statement on a proposed bankruptcy plan from Purdue Pharma:

“I filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma to hold the company accountable for its role fueling the opioid epidemic. Our investigation and lawsuit helped shut down Purdue and the Sacklers’ illegal conduct. We were preparing for trial when Purdue filed for bankruptcy, stopping all legal actions.

Bipartisan coalition of 37 attorneys general assert Google used its market dominance to stifle competition

Today’s action let stand Washington Supreme Court’s decision affirming rights of same-sex couples

OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued the following statement today after the U.S. Supreme Court denied review of the state’s lawsuit against a Richland florist for violating Washington’s Consumer Protection Act and the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) by refusing to serve a same-sex couple seeking to buy wedding flowers in 2013: