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WA wins lawsuit forcing scammer to pay millions back to small businesses

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Published  July 8, 2025 2:15pm PDT
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FOX 13 Seattle

The Brief

    • The Labor Law Poster Service – formerly known as the Mandatory Poster Agency – will pay over $8.2 million in penalties and consumer restitution, in a lawsuit by the WA Attorney General's Office.
    • The Labor Law Poster Service has repeatedly scammed businesses with deceptive posters, and has been sued multiple times since 2008.
    • Governor Bob Ferguson filed the lawsuit in January 2024, when he was the AG.

SEATTLE - The Washington State Office of the Attorney General has won over $8 million in penalties in a trial against a repeat scammer.

The Michigan-based Labor Law Poster Service – co-owned by brothers Joseph, Thomas and Steven Fata, and Joseph's son Justin Fata – illegally targeted tens of thousands of small businesses in Washington for over a decade, by mass-mailing deceptive posters, according to the AG's Office. 

The company has been ordered to pay more than $8.2 million in penalties and consumer restitution, after current Washington Governor and former AG, Bob Ferguson, sued the company in January 2024. 

The backstory:

In 2008, the AG's Office investigated the Labor Law Poster Service, formerly known as the Mandatory Poster Agency, for consumer protection violations involving healthcare professionals. Afterward, the Mandatory Poster Agency entered a legal agreement to pay back the money to the Washington businesses, in exchange for avoiding penalties. 

Despite paying back the money, the Mandatory Poster Agency continued to violate consumer protection, and would be sued by the AG's Office in 2014. 

In 2016, a King County Superior Court judge ruled that the poster agency violated the Consumer Protection Act again, 79,354 times, and ordered the poster agency to pay over $1.2 million in penalties and restitution. The Fata brothers would continue their illegal activity after paying. 

In January 2024, a new consumer protection lawsuit was filed in King County Superior Court that accused the Labor Law Poster Service of violating the Consumer Protection Act over 300,000 times during the previous seven years. 

What's next:

King County Superior Court Judge Maureen McKee has ordered the Labor Law Poster Service to pay $12 for each of the nearly 600,000 mailers sent to Washington small business owners-$7.1 million in total. 

Additionally, the poster company has been ordered to pay $850,000 total in restitution to the small businesses who fell for the poster scam, plus 12% in prejudgment interest. 

The Fatas will pay over $8.2 million in total. 

The Source: Information in this article is from the Washington State Office of the Attorney General. 

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