ARTICLE
19 June 2025

State AG News: Robocalls, False Advertising, Inflated Rent May 29-June 11, 2025

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Crowell & Moring LLP

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Each week, Crowell & Moring's State Attorneys General team highlights significant actions that State AGs have taken.
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Each week, Crowell & Moring's State Attorneys General team highlights significant actions that State AGs have taken. See our State Attorneys General page for more insights. Below are the updates from May 29-June 11, 2025

Multistate

  • A bipartisan coalition of 42 attorneys general sent a letter to the House Committee on Financial Services and the Senate Banking Committee regarding the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act of 2025 (H.R. 2808 and S. 1467). The letter urges Congress to pass this legislation to end the abusive use of mortgage credit triggers and seeks to preserve the use of mortgage credit to narrowly defined, consumer consented circumstances.
  • A coalition of 8 attorneys general announced a contempt order was filed against John Spiller, owner of Rising Eagle Capital Group, JSquared Telecom, and Rising Eagle Capital Group-Cayman, which offered robocall dialer and VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol ) services to telemarketers. Spiller allegedly helped facilitate large volumes of robocalls, including many targeting numbers on the Do Not Call Registry, through his telemarketing service companies. Spiller is required to pay $600,000 in attorney's fees and litigation costs for violating a 2023 court order that barred him from placing or facilitating robocalls.

Arizona

  • Arizona Attorney General Mayes announced a settlement with Family Dollar Stores, LLC, the discount retailer, resolving allegations that it inaccurately advertised prices for items at their store. According to the OAG's investigation, Family Dollar had repeatedly failed UPC Scanning Accuracy inspections conducted by the Weights and Measures Services Division of the Arizona Department of Agriculture in stores throughout the state. Meaning, the prices advertised on store shelves were not always the prices that customers paid at the register. Family Dollar Stores is required to pay $300,000 in civil penalties and attorneys' fees and to implement changes to improve its pricing accuracy.

California

  • California Attorney General Bonta announced a $275,000 settlement with Pacific Magazine Billing resolving allegations that the company was engaged in deceptive practices and violated California's False Advertising and Unfair Competition Laws. The settlement resolves all allegations from the 2025 lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of the State of California County of San Diego regarding the deceptive practice of disguising solicitation mailers for magazine subscriptions as bills.
  • Attorney General Bonta issued a statement after a Northern District federal judge in State of California v. Donald J. Trump granted California's request for dismissal to allow the state to appeal its case challenging the Trump Administration's allegedly illegal tariffs. According to the complaint filed by the state, President Trump doesn't have the authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act without the consent of Congress. A copy of the judge's order can be found here.

Georgia

  • Georgia Attorney General Carr announced the indictment of Christie Edwards on charges of racketeering and theft by taking. The indictment alleged that Ms. Edwards conducted a series of fraudulent ATM withdraws, point of sale transactions, checks, and credit card payments against elderly clients while employed as a bookkeeper at an accounting firm. The indictment alleges that Ms. Edwards' conduct resulted in more than $380,000 of stolen funds.

Nevada

  • Nevada Attorney General Ford announced the passage of Assembly Bill 44, which prohibits unfair and deceptive price-fixing of the prices for essential goods and services, such as food, clothes, footwear, gasoline, medical products, housing, telecommunication services, internet access, and ground transportation. However, Bill 44 does not apply to fees and rates charged within industries regulated by federal, state, or local governmental agencies. Bill 44 does not prohibit raising prices of essential goods or services due to normal market trends. The Bill aims to protect Nevadans from "predatory practices".

New Jersey

  • New Jersey Attorney General Platkin announced proposed rules aimed at protecting consumers from the unauthorized use and sale of their personal data by the operators that collect it during certain business transactions. The proposed rules would facilitate several rights for consumers in the state including, opting out of a business selling or using personal data targeted at advertising and providing consumers with more control over personal data obtained by a business. It also provides a framework for a universal opt-out mechanism. The 60-day public comment period, during which stakeholders have an opportunity to submit written comments on the proposed rules, which ends August 1, 2025.

Vermont

  • Vermont Attorney General Clark resolved allegations against Unified Parking Partners (UPP) Global, LLC, a private parking operator, for misleading parking notices that implied that UPP Global was a governmental entity. The $150,000 settlement resolves allegations of violations of the Consumer Protection Act.

Washington D.C.

  • Washington D.C. Attorney General Schwab announced a settlement with William C. Smith & Co., Inc., resolving allegations that it conspired with other District landlords, using pricing software from RealPage, Inc., to inflate rents at over 50,000 apartment units across the District. According to the settlement, W.C. Smith will pay over $1,000,000 in civil penalties and will be required to reform its business practices to avoid certain rent-setting practices and to refrain from encouraging others to use revenue management software to accept recommended rent prices.
  • Attorney General Schwab announced settlements with Equinox SC D.C., Inc., the luxury fitness studio, and Capital Healthcare, LLC (AllCare), provider of primary and urgent healthcare clinics, resolving allegations that they separately required employees to sign unlawful noncompete agreements. According to the Equinox settlement agreement, the company will pay in excess of $117,000 to impacted workers and the District, and will be required to stop using noncompete agreements for current or future employees in the District. The AllCare settlement requires the company to pay $18,000 and to stop the use of noncompete clauses and ensure that nondisclosure agreements do not infringe employees' rights.

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