About OCJ

No one should worry about being the target of unfair financial practices, scams, and schemes. 

From renting or purchasing a home, or buying a car to taking out a loan or making an insurance claim—we deserve to feel confident and trust that every transaction we make is safe.

But far too often, we are cheated, treated poorly, or targeted by scams. When bad actors violate our consumer rights, there are not enough options for justice. Decades-old policies and practices have put business interests ahead of Oregonians’, and the services and financial products we rely on—like loans, warranties, and credit cards—aren’t set up to support those using them. And we know that racism is ingrained in all our systems—including banks and financial institutions—and continues to contribute to deep disparities in wealth, benefiting white people and driving inequities that impact communities of color. 

Oregon Consumer Justice (OCJ) is a statewide organization dedicated to expanding and protecting the rights of consumers, advancing justice for every Oregonian. We strengthen and safeguard Oregon consumers’ rights through policy and advocacy, community engagement, and the law. Together, we’re stopping unfair and predatory practices that strip wealth and resources from our families and communities.

OCJ puts people first through engagement and relationships statewide to advance a more just and equitable Oregon. We collaborate with community partners and organizations, lawmakers, elected officials, and the legal community to advance our mission for Oregon consumers: 

• We advocate for pro-consumer protection laws and push to enforce existing laws effectively to ensure justice and uphold consumer rights. 
• We equip Oregonians with the tools and knowledge to understand and exercise their consumer rights. 
• We support legal solutions to help consumers stand up for their rights and hold bad actors accountable through the courts. 

Learn more about our work.

What is consumer justice?

Consumer justice is the freedom for all to thrive and equitably share in our abundant resources. To make this happen, we need to rethink and reconstruct unjust systems, and promote equitable economic policies that put people first. This will ensure that financial and business transactions are safe and that Oregonians have effective ways to access justice if needed.

Our origin story

In 2015, an Oregon law ruled that going forward, unclaimed funds from class action lawsuits—sometimes in the tens of millions of dollars—should go back to the people, not the corporations that harmed them. Before this law implemented the legal principle of cy pres (pronounced: SIGH-PRAY), companies that lost class action lawsuits were allowed to keep unclaimed settlement money as their own. The first application of cy pres law in Oregon was in 2019 for the class action lawsuit, Scharfstein v. BP West Coast Products LLC. Under Oregon’s laws, half of the unclaimed settlement funds went to Legal Aid Services of Oregon. The cy pres court order directed the remaining half to establish Oregon Consumer Justice (OCJ), a nonprofit to focus on protecting and expanding the rights of Oregon consumers. Three founding board members were named to lead its design: Henry Kantor, Justin Baxter, and Emily Reiman.

OCJ’s commitment to cultivating a human-centered culture ensures the organization supports a dedicated staff devoted to realizing the cy pres order and shares a commitment to a future where all Oregon consumers live with dignity and abundance and experience health, joy, and economic opportunity.