Washington AG Ferguson Suing COVID-19 Testing Company for Poor Service

A new lawsuit from Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson targets a COVID-19 testing company for invalid, false and delayed test results, and sometimes no results at all. 

Ferguson filed the lawsuit in King County Superior Court, claiming the Center for COVID Control broke the Consumer Protection Act for failing to deliver fast and accurate tests and making deceptive promises to deliver results within 48 hours.

The suit says the company stored tests in garbage bags for over a week, and backdated collection dates so stale samples would still be processed.

It further claims that company employees reported being instructed to “lie to patients on a daily basis”.

The Center for COVID Control website has a message saying all of its locations are closed, and that it's using an operational pause to train additional staff on sample collection and customer service.

Ferguson’s lawsuit asks the court to order Center for COVID Control to:

• Stop all its unlawful conduct, including its misrepresentations to consumers and false test results
• Pay civil penalties of up to $12,500 per violation of the Consumer Protection Act, which includes $5,000 in enhanced penalties for targeting vulnerable populations
• Relinquish any profits the company made from its unlawful conduct, in addition to any attorneys’ costs and fees