Court rejects deception charges against Savers Value Village

By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington state Supreme Court has handed the thrift store chain Savers Value Village a unanimous win in a long-running legal fight with Attorney General Bob Ferguson. The attorney general’s office began investigating the company’s marketing practices eight years ago. After the company declined to pay millions of dollars to settle the investigation, the attorney general’s office charged Value Village with deceiving the public into thinking it was a nonprofit or charitable organization. In reality, it’s a for-profit company that pays other charitable organizations for donations. The justices ruled 9-0 Thursday that the company’s marketing practices were protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.