Wash. Attorney General’s Office must pay $4.2M to Value Village
Oct 18, 2023, 12:37 PM | Updated: Nov 7, 2023, 1:47 pm
After six years of legal wrangling, a King County judge has ordered the Washington State Attorney General’s Office to pay Value Village more than $4.2 million.
The money is for attorney fees and costs requested by Value Village for fighting Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s claims that the stores were deceiving consumers by presenting themselves as charitable nonprofit when, in reality, they are part of a for-profit corporation.
“We are very pleased with the court’s fee award and the judge’s ruling confirming the full vindication of our defense in this case,” Savers Value Village’s General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer Richard Medway said in a statement Tuesday to McClatchy, which owns four newspapers in Washington. “The fee award against the AG’s office is the largest in this context in Washington state history.”
The 27-page King County Superior Court ruling dismissed the state’s claims against Value Village.
“The state’s conduct during this case contributed to increased fees and costs,” Judge David Whedbee wrote.
Earlier coverage: Washington may have to pay up to $5.7M in legal costs to Value Village
Value Village had initially asked for $5.7 million.
The first Value Village opened in 1954 at the location of an old movie theater in San Francisco’s Mission District home.
In February, the state Supreme Court remanded the case to the King County Superior Court to dismiss the claims brought by the state and to decide if Value Village was entitled to recovery of attorney’s fees and costs.
However, Whedbee said the attorney general’s office refused to meet with Value Village or identify which practices needed to be changed during an investigation prior to the state filing a lawsuit, inconsistent with the purpose of the Charitable Solicitations Act. Instead, the state “demanded” that Value Village make a multi-million dollar payment to the attorney general’s office to settle the investigation.
In 2019, Value Village agreed to settle without admitting liability for $475,000, but the attorney general’s office rejected that offer.
Whedbee said the office “failed to show that any (Value Village) shopper had been deceived or otherwise injured by (Value Village’s) advertising and marketing.”
