California AG Bonta amends lawsuit against oil companies to seize profits under new consumer protection law.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is amending the state’s lawsuit seeking climate change damages from oil companies to incorporate a new state law that allows him to seize profits from companies found to have violated false advertising and unfair competition laws. The change allows the attorney general to go after a company’s “unjust profits” even without showing a plaintiff has suffered a loss, as was required before. The law also created the Victims of Consumer Fraud Restitution Fund, where money collected from companies that violated the state’s unfair competition and false advertising laws would go.