Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

SEATTLE - June 11, 1998 - King County Superior Court Judge George Finkle has granted the state's request to use key portions of a document the state claims will provide strong evidence of wrongdoing by the nation's largest tobacco company, RJR Tobacco. The state expects to use the document as evidence in its upcoming trial against the tobacco industry.
RICHLAND - June 8, 1998 – With the Columbia River as a backdrop, Gov. Gary Locke and Attorney General Christine Gregoire today announced plans to sue the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) for failing to comply with two milestones in a Hanford cleanup agreement.
SEATTLE - May 28, 1998 -- Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire and 43 other attorneys general have negotiated a $2.6 million national settlement with America Online (AOL) that gives consumers important new protections.
SEATTLE - May 22, 1998 - The State of Washington today settled three lawsuits against two credit insurance sales consulting companies for allegedly encouraging auto dealers to hide the costs of extra products in the payment quotes they made to customers.
At this time the Washington State Attorney General's Office has declined to join the lawsuit brought by some Attorneys General against Microsoft.
SEATTLE - May 5, 1998 - King County Superior Court Judge, George A. Finkle, today denied Washington state's request to compel the tobacco industry to turn over the 39,000 industry documents recently released to Congress and the State of Minnesota. The industry had released the internal memos, research summaries, and other sensitive industry documents last month in response to a subpoena by House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-VA).
SEATTLE - May, 1, 1998 --Today, the Shell Oil Company announced that it plans to sell its Anacortes refinery to the Tesoro Petroleum Corporation, which supplies gas to approximately 30 retail locations in Southwestern Washington and Oregon and owns refineries in Alaska and Hawaii.
SEATTLE -May 1, 1998 -- The Attorney General today announced a national credit insurance sales consulting company will pay $205,000 plus money to settle individual claims for allegedly encouraging auto dealers to hide the costs of extra products in early payment quotes.
SPOKANE -April 1, 1998 - The Attorney General's Office today announced that a Connecticut company will pay almost $70,000 in refunds and fines for using high pressure sales and other deceptive practices to sell insulated replacement windows, doors and siding to elderly consumers in Washington and Idaho.
Olympia - March 23, 1998 - Washington Attorney General Chris Gregoire said new figures released by the White House today indicate passage of a comprehensive tobacco bill by Congress could cut the number of teen smokers in Washington by 48,000 over the next five years.

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