<p>District Attorney’s Office collects $1.2 million in civil judgments in FY 2020/2021 from unscrupulous businesses that violated environmental or consumer protection laws.</p>

Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch announced that in FY 2020/2021, her Environmental and Consumer Law Division (“ECLD”) collected over $1.2 million for the County of Sonoma in civil judgments against businesses that violated state and local environmental and consumer protection laws. The civil judgments, all approved by the Superior Court, included monies collected for civil penalties and reimbursement of costs of investigation and prosecution.

Altogether, ECLD participated in the prosecution of environmental protection and consumer protection cases throughout the State of California, including with the California Attorney General or other county District Attorneys, which resulted in civil judgments totaling more than $23 million for civil penalties, costs, and restitution.

Some of the companies successfully prosecuted by ECLD for violations of environmental or consumer protection laws include: Varenna LLC, Oakmont Senior Living LLC, Oakmont Management Group LLC, Target Corporation, Cost Plus, Kelly Moore Paint Company Inc., Miracle Breakthrough Labs, Trader Joes, City Ventures Homebuilding LLC, Tropical Seas, Ross Stores, Walgreens, Home Depot USA Inc., Sonoma Materials Inc., CarMax Auto, Klein Food dba Rodney Strong, PetSmart LLC, Chewy Inc., and Theodore Farnsworth and Mitchell Lowe (former principals of MoviePass Inc.)

District Attorney Ravitch stated “ECLD is committed to protecting this county’s beautiful natural resources from damage, protecting our consumers from fraud and other harms perpetrated by unscrupulous businesses, and ensuring a level playing field for all lawful businesses.”

Consumers may report false advertising or unfair business practices to ECLD by calling (707) 565-5317 or emailing ECLD@sonoma-county.org.