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 highlights from April 3-9, 2025.
Multistate
• 12 state attorneys general sent letters to twenty law firms demanding that the firms comply with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (“EEOC”) March 17 letter requesting information to determine whether the law firms had engaged in any illegal and discriminatory actions through their diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”)-related employment policies.
California
• Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a settlement with HomeOptions, a realty company, resolving allegations that the company engaged in an illegal scheme harming over 500 California homeowners. According to the state’s complaint, HomeOptions lured financially vulnerable homeowners into 20-year exclusive real estate listing agent contracts in exchange for relatively small one-time payments. The state also alleged the company deceptively recorded liens against the homeowners’ homes, and forced homeowners to pay tens of thousands of dollars in illegal fees to remove those liens so that they could transfer title or obtain home loans. The settlement requires HomeOptions to pay $400,000 in restitution and $170,000 in civil penalties. It also requires the company to terminate all liens that it recorded on the homeowners’ properties and to void all contracts that it entered into with the homeowners.
Idaho
• Attorney General Raúl Labrador announced the promotion of Dan Estes to Director of Consumer Protection and the appointment of Damon Sidur as Communications Director for the Idaho Office of the Attorney General. Estes has served as the Public Information Officer for the Attorney General’s Office since November 2023, where he led the office’s public relations and outreach efforts. Sidur most recently served as Communications Director for Congressman Michael Cloud (R-TX) and Congressman Cliff Bentz (R-OR), where he led media relations and communications outreach. Before that, he served as Digital Media Director for Congressman Bob Good (R-VA) and as Deputy Communications Director for the Colorado House Republican Caucus.
Pennsylvania
• Attorney General David Sunday announced a settlement with Accelerated Debt Settlement, Inc. and its affiliates, resolving allegations that the businesses misled consumers into thinking they could reduce or settle debts in exchange for certain upfront payments. Under the settlement, Accelerated Debt Settlement agreed to pay $550,000, $500,000 of which will be paid to harmed consumers.
• The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) announced the appointment of Pennsylvania Attorney General Sunday as the new co-chair of the Association’s Consumer Protection Committee.
Texas
• Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation into WK Kellogg Co. for allegedly violating Texas consumer protection laws by advertising certain cereals as “healthy.” The AG alleged that Kellogg’s cereals contain artificial food dyes and the preservative BHT, which the company had removed from products sold outside the U.S. but not those sold domestically despite past commitments to do so.
Washington
• Attorney General Nick Brown announced that the OAG filed a lawsuit against software company RealPage and nine local landlords, alleging that RealPage and its software were central to a conspiracy and unfair competition by certain landlords that resulted in rising rent prices for their tenants. The complaint seeks monetary and injunctive relief.