From the Office of the DC Attorney General:
“Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today announced a lawsuit against Fort Myer Construction Company (Fort Myer), one of the region’s largest road paving and infrastructure construction companies, for illegally contaminating the District’s stormwater system with pollutants in violation of the Water Pollution Control Act (WPCA). (more…)
From the Office of the DC Attorney General:
“Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today announced a settlement requiring the owners of Foster House, an apartment building located in the Shaw neighborhood at 801 Rhode Island Avenue, NW with 76 subsidized, affordable housing units, to pay at least $1.65 million to harmed tenants and the District and to ensure that that level of affordable housing is preserved at the site for no less than 30 years. (more…)
From the office of the DC Office of the Attorney General (OAG):
“Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today announced that District Dogs, a dog daycare, boarding, and grooming business, will be required to make safety and emergency preparedness improvements at all of its DC locations, as well as pay $100,000, in connection with a 2023 flood at one of its facilities that resulted in the death of 10 dogs. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) opened an investigation into whether District Dogs misled customers about the safety of their pets at its Rhode Island Ave location, including concealing and downplaying the known risks from previous floods. As part of a settlement agreement resolving OAG’s investigation, District Dogs will develop and implement comprehensive emergency response and evacuation procedures for each of its DC locations, train all DC staff on emergency response procedures, obtain risk management certification, and keep its Rhode Island Ave location permanently closed. (more…)
photo by Diane Krauthamer
From the office of the DC Attorney General:
“Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today filed a lawsuit against StubHub, Inc. (StubHub), an online ticket exchange and resale platform, to put an end to StubHub’s deceptive and unfair practice of hiding mandatory fees from consumers until the end of a lengthy purchase process, and then failing to provide clear and accurate information about the purpose of those fees or how the fees are calculated. These deceptive and unfair practices interfere with consumers’ ability to compare prices and to otherwise make informed decisions about their ticket purchases, in violation of the District’s consumer protection laws. (more…)
From the Office of the DC Attorney General:
“Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb introduced the Secure Apartments For Everyone (SAFE) Regulation Amendment Act to improve safety and reduce incidents of crime at District apartment complexes. Each apartment building has unique characteristics and challenges, and the SAFE Act sets forth a series of interventions that allow District tenants, owners, and government agencies to work together to identify building-specific problems and implement solutions that will make communities safer in the short and long term. (more…)
photo by Geoff Livingston
From the Office of the DC Attorney General:
“Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today issued the below Consumer Alert informing District residents about legal protections against excessive fees throughout the rental process, including caps on application fees and protections against “junk fees” after they sign a lease. (more…)
photo by Phil
From the DC Office of the Attorney General:
“Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today announced that the nation’s third largest tax preparation company, Liberty Tax, will pay $550,000 to more than 7,300 DC residents who were misled and overcharged for tax preparation services. As part of a settlement resolving the consumer protection lawsuit that the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) filed against it, Liberty Tax must also pay $200,000 to the District and permanently end the deceptive marketing and pricing tactics it used across the US. (more…)
From the office of the DC Attorney General:
“Attorney General Schwalb today announced the resolution of an investigation into Lyft concerning its failure to provide proper notice to consumers about fines the company imposed when scooters were parked improperly. Under the terms of a settlement agreement, Lyft will provide full restitution and return nearly $90,000 to affected scooter users. Lyft will also pay $20,000 to the District and has already made changes to its systems to ensure users are notified about DC’s scooter parking rules and notified of any fines imposed for parking violations. (more…)
From the The Office of the DC Attorney General:
“Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today announced a lawsuit against RealPage, Inc. (RealPage) and 14 of the largest residential landlords in the District for colluding to illegally raise rents for tens of thousands of DC residents by collectively delegating price-setting authority to RealPage, which used a centralized pricing algorithm to inflate prices, costing renters millions of dollars.
The defendant landlords are some of the largest providers of multifamily housing in the District, and the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) investigation revealed that RealPage’s technology was used to set rents for more than 50,000 apartments across DC, in violation of the District’s Antitrust Act.
“RealPage and the defendant landlords illegally colluded to artificially raise rents by participating in a centralized, anticompetitive scheme, causing District residents to pay millions of dollars above fair market prices,” said AG Schwalb. “Defendants’ coordinated and anticompetitive conduct amounts to a District-wide housing cartel. At a time when affordable housing in DC is increasingly scarce, our office will continue to use the law to fight for fair market conditions and ensure that District residents and law-abiding businesses are protected.”
The 14 landlords named in the lawsuit are: (more…)
photo by Jim Havard
“This is the largest environmental settlement in DC history.”
From the Office of the DC Attorney General:
“Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today announced that Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco) will pay over $57 million to resolve allegations that it discharged toxic chemicals into the District’s land and waterways for decades, resulting in the persistent toxic pollution of the Anacostia River. Under the terms of the agreement, Pepco must pay $47 million toward cleaning up the Anacostia River and $10 million in penalties. The company also must clean up contamination at its Buzzard Point and Benning Road facilities and investigate the current and historical environmental impacts of the company’s underground, District-wide system of transformer vaults. Additionally, Pepco will pay for the District to oversee this work. (more…)