Over DA’s objections, county supervisors OK new office to pursue consumer protection lawsuits
A new office to protect consumers from seedy landlords, polluters and scammers is coming to
The county will join the ranks of other large
For nearly a year, Supervisor
Lawson-Remer has said the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the
On Tuesday, her colleagues agreed. The
“The laws to stop many of these fraudulent abuses already exist,” Lawson-Remer said. “What has been missing is the capacity to enforce them.”
Lawson-Remer’s push for the unit has previously sparked a turf war with District Attorney
The District Attorney’s Office has had its own consumer protection unit since the 1970s. Called the Economic Crimes and Consumer Protection division, it employs 10 investigators and 15 prosecutors who have the power to initiate criminal and civil cases.
The new unit will be housed in the county counsel’s office. Unlike the DA’s unit, the county counsel’s will only be able to bring civil cases, due to state law.
Similar units in county counsel’s offices coexist alongside units in district attorney’s offices in three other counties —
But Stephan appealed to supervisors Tuesday to delay a decision on the new unit pending more analysis on how her own consumer unit and a new one could complement each other, and she criticized the rollout of the plan.
“It has not been done in the way business and collaboration is done,” Stephan told supervisors. “It was not built bringing the real expertise to the table.”
Stephan has also criticized Lawson-Remer’s proposal and questioned the need for a new unit. “I don’t think this is the right thing to do,” she told
Fueling the rift is that the new unit will be funded using millions in settlements and judgments the DA’s unit has won in court.
That money is kept in a fund that can only be spent on other consumer protection efforts, including staff in the DA’s unit. Over the last two fiscal years, the fund grew from
Lawson-Remer has said the new unit, which will employ up to 30 staffers, will only need about
Others who spoke Tuesday pushed back on Stephan’s claim that the new unit would duplicate her unit’s work.
County Counsel
“This is not anything novel or new,” Brown said of the new unit.
“I think there’s an opportunity for everyone,” he said.
©2026 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


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