FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 8, 2019
Contact: Marc Malon, (207) 626-8887

Program allows consumers, who have not been made whole through other remediation programs, to have inquiry reviewed by escalation team

AUGUSTA - Attorney General Aaron Frey today announced that Wells Fargo has begun a consumer redress review program through which consumers who have not yet been made whole through other remediation programs already in place can seek to have their inquiry or complaint reviewed by a Wells Fargo escalation team for possible relief.

AUGUSTA - Attorney General Aaron Frey is warning consumers about recent reports of calls from individuals claiming to represent Medicare.

There are reports from Maine Medicare recipients who have received phone calls claiming to be from Medicare. The callers pretend to be from Medicare and try to get individuals' Social Security numbers, the name of their financial institution and their financial routing and account numbers or ask for money directly.

AUGUSTA - Attorney General Aaron Frey today joined a lawsuit led by California Attorney General Becerra filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California challenging President Trump's declaration of a national emergency and his attempt to divert funding appropriated by Congress for other purposes. In the complaint, the coalition alleges that the Trump Administration's emergency declaration and diversion of funds is unconstitutional and otherwise unlawful.

AUGUSTA - Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey today joined a coalition of 15 attorneys general to call on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler to initiate rulemaking to issue a new "asbestos reporting rule" to eliminate exemptions for asbestos in the current Chemical Data Reporting rule. Asbestos is a highly hazardous chemical in widespread use throughout the U.S.

AUGUSTA - Attorney General Aaron M. Frey announced today that he and 45 other Attorneys General have reached a $120 million Consent Judgment with Medical Device Business Services, Inc., f/k/a DePuy Inc. DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., and DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc.; DePuy Products, Inc.; DePuy Synthes, Inc.; DePuy Synthes Sales, Inc. (collectively referred to as "DePuy") and Johnson & Johnson to resolve allegations that DePuy unlawfully promoted its metal-on-metal hip implant devices, the ASR XL and the Pinnacle Ultamet. Maine will receive $1.4 million as its share of the settlement.

(AUGUSTA) Maine Attorney General Janet T. Mills has announced that police agencies receiving Narcan, the opioid overdose reversing drug, have utilized it 504 times since the Attorney General's Office began making it available at no cost to the agencies. The first doses of Narcan were delivered in June 2016 and has been provided to 84 agencies across Maine.

AUGUSTA – Attorney General Janet Mills has joined 13 states in opposing the US Environmental Agency's suspension of the "Glider Rule" that would keep super-polluting heavy-duty diesel trucks off America's roads. The state officials have written to the EPA to warn that the "no action" assurance it has given the industry would amount to an unlawful, de facto repeal of the rule without proper due process.

AUGUSTA--Four Maine high schools that were selected by the Attorney General?s Office to start plumbing training programs with funds received from a consumer protection settlement, trained nearly 100 students this 2017-2018 academic year.

HOULTON, ME ? Last week Maine Attorney General Janet Mills was honored at Region Two School of Applied Technology in Houlton with the 2018 Financial Capability Innovation Award, presented by the nation?s leading technology innovator, EVERFI, Inc. The award recognized the Attorney General?s significant efforts to improve the financial literacy of Maine students through unique digital learning initiatives. This important initiative has empowered approximately four thousand Maine students in forty-five different communities.

AUGUSTA ? More than 680 students and advisors from 65 schools across 15 of Maine?s 16 counties will gather to discuss bias, harassment based on skin color, national origin, ancestry, religion, disabilities, gender, and sexual orientation at a day long, statewide conference hosted by Maine?s Civil Rights Team Project (CRTP) at the Augusta Civic Center on Friday, May 18, 2018.