The county's new consumer protection unit opens with three lawsuits: online platforms and ghost guns
Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer announced the launch of the Consumer Fairness and Public Protection division, the county's first dedicated civil enforcement office, with lawsuits targeting two online platforms over child safety and a manufacturer over ghost-gun parts. She details the cases Monday at the County Administration Center.
SAN DIEGO: San Diego County is launching its first dedicated consumer-protection litigation office, and it is opening with three lawsuits. Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer announced Friday the creation of the Consumer Fairness and Public Protection division, a new arm of the county that will investigate and file civil cases against companies accused of illegal, deceptive and predatory practices. The first three cases target two online platforms accused of using technology that lets predators target children with sexually explicit material, and a manufacturer accused of supplying filaments for ghost guns. The announcement does not name the companies. The national firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann will serve as outside counsel in one of the three matters.
Lawson-Remer will detail the cases Monday at 12:30 p.m. inside Room 302 of the county building at 1600 Pacific Highway, joined by County Counsel Damon Brown and Assistant County Counsel Alysson Snow, who is identified with the new unit. The announcement is framed as a response to gaps in federal enforcement: the release calls the new division "the first dedicated County unit designed to investigate and pursue civil cases against corporate actors accused of conduct that harms San Diegans," focused on "closing enforcement gaps, protecting residents and securing accountability under California law."
A fight months in the making
The launch caps a political battle that played out earlier this year. County board records show the unit was designed to be housed within the Office of County Counsel, led by a director serving as a senior assistant county counsel and reporting directly to the County Counsel, with authority to investigate, initiate and litigate affirmative civil enforcement actions, and staffed with up to 30 full-time employees within two years of authorization. Lawson-Remer argued the office would pay for itself through recoveries: "If we fund it for five years, within five years they'll win and bring in more money," she said when the proposal was debated in February.
District Attorney Summer Stephan opposed the idea, arguing her office's existing consumer protection unit already does the work. That office has a real record: 87 civil judgments over ten years and more than $134 million in statewide penalties, according to reporting on the proposal. The county records answer the jurisdictional question directly, directing the new unit to develop coordination protocols with the District Attorney, city attorneys and the state attorney general to deconflict cases and refer potential criminal matters. Monday's announcement is the first public sign of what the new office will actually do with that authority: three cases, two about children online, one about ghost guns.
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