The California Court of Appeal recently addressed a civil complaint claiming that a company committed over two thousand legal violations in relation to a public works project, failed to pay and report wages, and submitted forged documents.

In The People of the State of California v. AWI Builders Inc., et al., the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) and the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office (RCDA) jointly obtained search warrants for a criminal investigation of AWI Builders, Inc.’s labor and employment practices in connection with its involvement in certain public works projects, including for the Orange County Fair project.

In 2015, law enforcement officers executed the search warrants at the company’s offices and at the residence of two individual defendants. The officers seized and transferred into the OCDA’s custody AWI’s documents, computers, drives, servers, phones, tablets, and thumb drives.

In 2017, the OCDA chose not to pursue criminal charges and reassigned the matter to Kelly Ernby, Orange County’s deputy district attorney, for civil prosecution. In 2018, Ernby brought a civil complaint on behalf of the People of the State of California.

The complaint claimed violations of the unfair competition law and alleged that the defendants did the following:

• employed dozens of workers to finish the Orange County Fair project and secured for themselves the project’s profits;
• committed over two thousand separate legal violations, fraudulent acts, and...

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