At Issue & In Focus

Learn About Upcoming Changes to the AGO Website

We’ve worked over the past several years to enhance and expand the Attorney General’s Office website, striving to make information more transparent and accessible at every opportunity. Towards that goal, later this week, the Attorney General’s Office will launch a reorganized and redesigned website. 

If you visit other state government websites, you may notice similar design changes on many other pages that are part of the Mass.gov portal.  The Attorney General’s Office used this opportunity to expand and reorganize our existing site content.  The goal was simple: all changes should make the customer experience simpler, and make more content accessible to the public. We believe these updates will result in fewer clicks, easier navigation, and will help the public have a clearer understanding of what we do and how we can help. 

Once the site launches, we’ll welcome the public’s feedback about the design and navigation.  Please feel free to contact us at agoweb@state.ma.us with feedback or concerns.  If you experience difficulties accessing or finding a specific page, please feel free to e-mail us at this address and we’ll work to assist. 

Stay tuned!

Assisting Massachusetts Consumers

Some residents calling into the Attorney General’s Consumer Hotline Monday were initially surprised to learn that the familiar voice on the other end of the phone was their Attorney General, Martha Coakley.  AG Coakley spent an hour on the hotline for consumers Monday morning in order to hear personally from Massachusetts residents recovering from tropical storm Irene. She also spoke to consumers who felt that they were the victim of fraud, deception or unfair business practices and were interested in filing a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office.

The Consumer Hotline receives over 5,000 calls and over 3,000 emails and letters each month.  It can be reached at 617-727-8400 and is staffed weekdays with trained mediation specialists who can:

• answer questions and provide information; and/or
• offer referrals to appropriate organizations or government agencies for help; and/or
• provide information on the Attorney General’s consumer complaint and mediation services.

 

In the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), every consumer matters. If you could benefit from consumer information or mediation services, contact us. Last year alone, our mediators and Local Consumer Programs funded by our office were able to recover $4 million through informal mediation directly back to Massachusetts consumers.

To learn more, visit http://www.mass.gov/ago/complaints.

Inside the AGO: Victim Services Division

Victim Rights Week is April 18th through April 24th

Many people are aware of the AGO’s role in prosecuting criminal and civil cases, but along with holding offenders accountable the AGO provides services to the individuals who have been impacted by their actions. 

Being a victim or witness can be extremely traumatic and can result in emotional, psychological, physical, and financial harm. The AGO Victim Services Division (VSD) offers victims, witnesses and family members many services to try to help them begin the process of recovery.
 
Services include crisis intervention, education, and resource assistance.  In addition, victims of violent crime may be eligible for some financial assistance, including reimbursement of uninsured medical and dental care, mental health counseling, funeral and burial costs, and income lost due to the inability to work up to a maximum of $25,000 per crime through the AGO Victim Compensation Program.
 
In addition, crime victims are made aware of their rights as mandated by the Commonwealth’s Victim Rights Law and by the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act and they can receive support from a Victim Services Advocate who will help explain the process of going through a trial.  In Massachusetts we celebrate these important rights during Victim Rights Week from April 18th through April 24th.  
 
For more information, go to the Victim Services Division section of our website.

Regional Spotlight: Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Office

From the cranberry bogs of Carver to the beautiful beaches of Cape Cod, Southeastern Massachusetts is a region of unprecedented beauty, rich history, boasting a diverse population with wide ranging needs.  The Attorney General’s Office works to meet the needs of all constituents with help from its regional offices. 

Located in New Bedford, the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Office includes lawyers, labor inspectors, a consumer mediator, a civil and criminal investigator, an insurance mediator, and administrative staff who are all familiar with the area and can assist residents with their concerns and questions.  For example, in October 2009, staff from Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Consumer Protection Division based in the Southeastern Massachusetts office filed a lawsuit against Fit ‘N Fitness Athletic, a Taunton company that took the money of over 100 consumers promising to provide a health club membership.  The club never opened and never returned the money.  The Attorney General’s Office is seeking injunctive relief, consumer restitution and costs of investigation and prosecution of this case. 

Regional offices also work closely with the community to address areas of specific concern.  Earlier this year, the Attorney General’s Office expanded the Abandoned Housing Initiative (AHI) in an effort to help communities respond to the foreclosure crisis.  As part of the expansion, staff members from each regional office will work to locate, repair, and rehabilitate abandoned homes in their area.  Staff members work closely with local officials in Brockton, Fall River, and New Bedford to identify qualifying properties and help pave the way to convert these dangerous buildings and to safe affordable homes.

The Southeastern Massachusetts Office also provides a local place where members of the public may call or walk-in to resolve problems they experience with their wages, insurance, and goods and services they have purchased.  Staff from the office may be able to mediate the dispute in the consumer’s favor. 

Please visit the Regional Office section of the AGO website to locate the office in your area.

Inside the AGO: Protecting Our Air and Water

You may not know that the AGO enforces environmental laws that protect our air and water, preserve our wetlands, tidelands, and public open space, require the clean up of contaminated sites, and govern the use of pesticides and the handling and disposal of solid and hazardous waste.

Civil violations of environmental laws are handled by the AGO Environmental Protection Division. When a case warrants criminal prosecution, it is handled by the Environmental Crimes Strike Force, an interagency team that includes prosecutors from the AGO and Environmental Police Officers, Investigators, Engineers and Attorney’s from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

The Strike Force has recently pursued prosecutions for improper disposal of hazardous waste, failure to properly report spills of oil or hazardous waste, failure to properly abate and dispose of asbestos, and exposing workers to unsafe environmental conditions. Utilizing the expertise of the various agencies and team members, the Strike Force is able to operate undercover investigations allowing them to carefully build cases against environmental violators.

Additional information regarding the Environmental Crimes Strike Force, including reporting a violation, can be found on the DEP and AGO websites.

2010 Initiative Petitions

Meeting yesterday’s deadline, 17 groups have filed 30 petitions for proposed laws or constitutional amendments on topics such as tolls, sales tax, local aid, commercial fishing, charter schools, alternative energy, among others. Of the 30 petitions, five constitutional amendments were filed for the 2012 ballot.  Some initiative petition sponsors submitted more than one version of a petition on the same topic.

An initiative petition is a way for citizens to propose laws and constitutional amendments to appear on the statewide ballot, for voter approval. The first step in the process leading to the 2010 ballot (for laws) or the 2012 ballot (for constitutional amendments) is for 10 voters to sign a petition containing the proposed law or constitutional amendment and to file it with the AGO by 5:00 p.m. yesterday (August 5, 2009).

The Attorney General must review all petitions filed to determine whether they meet certain constitutional requirements - including, in particular, whether a petition addresses any subjects that the Constitution excludes from the initiative process. If the petition is certified as meeting the constitutional requirements, the Attorney General also prepares a summary of the proposed law (or constitutional amendment) to appear on petitions for gathering additional signatures and on the ballot.

To learn more about next steps and the initiative petition process, view a press release on the AGO website. The Current Petitions Filed page will be updated with the progress of each petition, including the AGO’s September 2nd decision on each petition, summaries of certified petitions, and explanatory letters responding to legal issues raised by members of the public regarding some petitions.

Inside the AGO: Public Inquiry and Assistance Center

Every day in Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Public Inquiry and Assistance Center (PIAC), a team of AGO mediators work to protect the interests of Massachusetts consumers. PIAC provides a free, voluntary mediation service in an attempt to resolve disputes between consumers and for-profit businesses. The Attorney General, through PIAC, the regional offices, and grant funded Local Consumer Programs, act as neutral third parties in these disputes with the goal of finding a mutually agreeable resolution to consumer complaints.

During the month of May, mediators successfully resolved 173 disputes and mediated the return of $94,214 to consumers. The settlements ranged in size from as little as $25 for a gift certificate redemption to $4,195 from an auto dealership to a new car buyer after discovering the car had been in a previously undisclosed accident.

Some mediations cannot be quantified through monetary value.  For example, some mediations result in reconnection of electricity to a residence, facilitation of a conversation with a homeowner and their mortgage company, or convincing a general contractor to complete a remodeling job.

While the results of the Attorney General’s mediation program may vary due to the voluntary nature of the program, PIAC encourages all consumers with questions or complaints to contact the PIAC Hotline at (617) 727-8400 to learn more about the mediation program.

Inside the AGO: Civil Rights Division

Discrimination may be experienced in many different ways and felt on many different levels.  The AGO enforces and safeguards Constitutional and statutory civil rights and liberties on behalf of Massachusetts residents and visitors.  As part of its enforcement, the Civil Rights Division of the AGO investigates and brings enforcement actions in a wide range of civil rights cases.  Last year the AGO initiated eight housing discrimination cases, four disability rights cases, one lending case, and two hate crimes cases under the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act (MCRA).
 
As reported by the Boston Globe, the work of the Civil Rights Division was credited for initiating the redesign of popular music software (Coakley, Apple agree on iTunes access for blind, September 27, 2008).  In September 2008, the AGO and the National Federation of the Blind reached an agreement with California-based Apple, Inc., to provide blind consumers and students full and equal access to Apple’s iTunes® and iTunes U®.  Given the increased use of the software on college campuses as an educational tool, the landmark agreement provided a meaningful benefit to blind persons nationwide, including over 35,000 blind residents and students in Massachusetts. 

In addition to enforcement, the Civil Rights Division also works to educate citizens, agencies and nonprofits, and law enforcement on the rights and protections provided to Massachusetts residents and visitors.  Specifically, the Division prepared a Guide to Veterans' Resources, a comprehensive guide for veterans or active Military, including the National Guard or Reserves, describing the laws in place to protect them and information to maximize the healthcare, disability, and education benefits available to vets and active military members.

For more information on the role of the Attorney General’s Office in civil rights issues and information on how to file a civil rights complaint, please visit the Civil Rights section of the AGO website.

Inside the AGO: Trial Division

Many people are aware of the AGO’s role in prosecuting criminals and protecting consumers, but there are also instances in which the AGO serves as defense counsel, protecting the valuable assets and resources of the Commonwealth. 

The Trial Division of the Attorney General’s Government Bureau defends the Commonwealth, its agencies and officials, when they are sued for money damages in the state and federal courts.  Much in the same way a business has lawyers to protect and defend its assets, it’s the role of the Trial Division to serve as the lawyers to state government.  At stake are the Commonwealth’s assets and resources that need to be protected against waste and abuse as well as to ensure their proper and future use for the benefit of all citizens.

The Trial Division, for example, examines all claims of negligence against the Commonwealth. Some claims are settled because they are found valid and supportable.  In other instances, when claims are found legally or factually insufficient, the Trial Division defends them to reduce or eliminate any cost to state.

In the last four weeks alone, the Trial Division has successfully defended the state in three cases involving a claims ranging from personal injuries due to a fall on state property, an employment discrimination claim filed by former state employee, to a claim that a state licensing agency negligently maintained its records concerning licensed professionals.  As a result of this work, the Commonwealth saved tens of thousands of dollars. 

Inside the AGO: New Information for Businesses

The economic crisis has been hard on everyone, small businesses included.  Even without the current fiscal constraints, navigating local, state, and federal regulation can be daunting.  The Business, Technology & Economic Development Division (BTED), was created by Attorney General Coakley in January 2007, to support economic development and offer a variety of resources to businesses throughout the state.

BTED leads AGO participation in statewide initiatives to promote economic and technological development in the Commonwealth.  In addition, division staff works to address the legal, regulatory and policy issues that affect the interests of businesses throughout Massachusetts.  As a liaison between the business community and the AGO, BTED provides the Attorney General with a business perspective on key economic issues impacting the Commonwealth. BTED also plays a prominent leadership role on business issues by reviewing regulations that might hinder economic development.  Additionally, BTED serves as a crucial “behind the scenes” advisor in articulating the needs of the business community as they may relate to other important AGO initiatives. 

To this end, the AGO has launched a new website section: Supporting Business in Massachusetts The new section provides information specifically tailored to the business community, including items on: financial crime, environmental law, health care, wage and hour laws, licensing and permitting, and resources for small businesses