The chief judge for the Western District of Washington on Wednesday announced the court's intent to select a U.S. attorney to serve on a temporary basis if President Donald Trump's pick, Charles Neil Floyd, who has been serving on an interim basis, isn't confirmed by the Senate by next month. 
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Wash. Judges To Pick US Atty As Floyd's Term Set To Expire

By Gina Kim

The chief judge for the Western District of Washington on Wednesday announced the court's intent to select a U.S. attorney to serve on a temporary basis if President Donald Trump's pick, Charles Neil Floyd, who has been serving on an interim basis, isn't confirmed by the Senate by next month. 

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Wash. Anti-Spam Law Not Federally Preempted, Judge Rules

By Ben Adlin

A Seattle federal judge has shot down Nike Inc.'s effort to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the sportswear giant of sending false or misleading marketing emails to shoppers in Washington, ruling that the state's Commercial Electronic Mail Act is not preempted by federal law.

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Wash. Judge Arrested For DUI Had Booze In Car, County Says​​​​​​​

By Ben Adlin

A Washington county urged a federal judge to toss a former state judge's lawsuit accusing sheriff's deputies of wrongfully stopping and arresting him on suspicion of DUI, arguing law enforcement had probable cause to detain him because he had an open alcoholic beverage in his vehicle and his speech was stumbling, slow and repetitive.

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Seattle Judge Fights Removal Rec Over Forged Parking Doc

By Rachel Riley

Washington state's high court seemed split Thursday on whether to bar a substitute county judge from the bench for using an official court stamp without permission in pursuit of a parking discount, with one justice remarking she "can't even imagine" behaving that way, while another suggested removal would be a disproportionate sanction.

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Amazon Hit With Suit Over Faulty Pressure Cooker

By Emily Field

Amazon on Thursday was hit with a suit in Washington federal court brought by a woman who claims she was injured when a pressure cooker sold on the site exploded while she was cooking and she was burned by the contents, leaving her with scars.

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LITIGATION

DHS Blocked From 2nd Attempt To End TSA Union Deal

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal court has again stopped the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from canceling a collective bargaining agreement covering tens of thousands of Transportation Security Administration workers, ruling Thursday that the federal government cannot get around a June injunction just by providing a fresh rationale.

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Trump Admin Defies Funding K-12 Mental Health Grants

By Mark Payne

The Trump administration is fighting an effort by a coalition of U.S. states to preserve at least six months of funding for K-12 mental health grants meant to help students process gun violence, arguing that an earlier court ruling doesn't require the feds to fund the grants.

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Expedia Can Seek Singapore's Aid To Get Docs In Rival's Suit

By Yun Park

A Washington federal judge has granted Expedia's request to seek assistance from Singapore's court system to obtain documents from Trip.com to support its defense in an antitrust case filed by Switzerland-based bankrupt online hotel booking company Amoma Sarl.

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Jordan Rookie Card Was 'Crap,' Buyer Says At Seller's Trial

By Pete Brush

A longtime sports trading card merchant told a Manhattan federal jury Thursday that two men accused of perpetrating a $2 million scam sold him a faked mint-condition Michael Jordan rookie card as part of a $260,000 deal.

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NINTH CIRCUIT

GEO Group Urges Justices To Pick Up Wage Immunity Case

By Irene Spezzamonte

The Ninth Circuit ignored intergovernmental immunity when it ruled that the GEO Group needed to follow Washington's minimum wage to pay detainees in a voluntary work program, the private prison operator told the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the justices to weigh in.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

9th Circ. Copyright Ruling Highlights Doubts On Intrinsic Test

Two concurring opinions in Sedlik v. Von Drachenberg may mark an inflection point in the Ninth Circuit's substantial-similarity jurisprudence, inviting copyright litigants to reassess strategy as the court potentially shifts away from the intrinsic test, say attorneys at Troutman.

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Considerations In Building Guardrails For AI Use In Arbitration

A recent California federal court case involving allegations of artificial intelligence ghostwriting an arbitration award, prior analogous practice on tribunal delegation, and emerging generative AI recommendations all support building a forward-looking framework for arbitration rules to minimize the risk of AI-based challenges, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

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Insights From 2025's Flood Of Data Breach Litigation

Several coherent patterns emerged from 2025's data breach litigation activity, suggesting that judges have grown skilled at distinguishing between companies that were genuinely victimized by sophisticated criminal actors despite reasonable precautions, and those whose security practices invited exploitation, says Frederick Livingston at McDonald Baas.

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4 Ways GCs Can Manage Growing Service Of Process Volume

As automation and arbitration increase the volume of legal filings, in-house counsel must build scalable service of process systems that strengthen corporate governance and manage risk in real time, says Paul Mathews at Corporation Service Co.

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Series

Fly-Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Much like skilled attorneys, the best anglers prize preparation, presentation and patience while respecting their adversaries — both human and trout, says Rob Braverman at Braverman Greenspun.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

As Goldstein Trial Begins, Gov't Points To 'Lavish' Lifestyle

By Jared Foretek

An accountant for billionaire investor Alec Gores said that Thomas Goldstein had suggested he open a foreign account for Gores' poker-related transactions or even classify him as a professional player for tax purposes, although Gores was just getting started in the high-stakes poker world.

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Simpson Thacher Offers Stipend To Lure Summer Associates

By Tracey Read

In an effort for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP to attract top students who want to pursue public interest work, the firm said it will pay a stipend of $42,500 for the 2026-2027 cycle for those who opt to spend their 1L summer in a qualifying public service, government, academic, in-house legal or nonprofit role.

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Calif. Justices Order Prosecutors To Explain Alleged AI Errors

By Dorothy Atkins

The California Supreme Court has ordered Nevada County prosecutors to explain to a lower court why they shouldn't be sanctioned for "apparent serial submission" of artificial intelligence-generated briefs with nonexistent legal citations in multiple criminal proceedings.

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Judiciary AI Rule Draws Fire As Judges Get Deepfakes Survey

By Jeff Overley

Federal judiciary policymakers heard extensive concerns Thursday regarding high-profile plans to formally screen evidence generated with artificial intelligence, and they set the stage for more feedback by preparing an AI survey for every federal trial judge.

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ICE Detention Facilities Nearly Doubled Last Year, Report Says

By Tom Lotshaw

An American Immigration Council report said the Trump administration detained record numbers of noncitizens last year, most without criminal records, and held them in a rapidly expanding network of facilities that could soon rival the federal criminal prison system.

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Fla. High Court Opens Door To Non-ABA Accrediting Entities

By Carolina Bolado

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday changed the bar exam admission requirements to allow graduates of law schools accredited by entities other than the American Bar Association to sit for the Florida bar exam.

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5th Circ. Revives Allstate's Fraud Suit Over Car Crash Billing

By Gina Kim

The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday revived Allstate's racketeering suit alleging doctors and personal injury lawyers unleashed a barrage of unnecessary treatments for car accident patients and caused Allstate to pay $4.7 million in claims, finding the insurer sufficiently pled details about the conspiracy and specifics surrounding each allegedly fake medical billing.

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Sens. Advance Indiana Judge Nominee Grilled Over Sermons

By Courtney Bublé

A federal judicial nominee for Indiana who came under scrutiny by a Republican senator for his past sermons as an ordained elder was voted out of committee Thursday alongside five other judicial nominees.

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Trump US Atty Pick In NM Bumped To First Assistant

By Emily Sawicki

A New Mexico federal judge has ruled the Trump-appointed interim U.S. Attorney for New Mexico is not validly serving in the role but declined to disqualify the prosecutor from a slate of cases pending in the district, instead determining the lawyer may continue to work in the federal prosecutor's office as first assistant.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Anderson Kill

Angeli & Calfo

Baker & Hostetler

Barnard Iglitzin

Beresford Booth

Braverman Greenspun

Bredhoff & Kaiser

Byrnes Keller

Clement & Murphy

CohenMalad

Covington & Burling

Crowell & Moring

Davis Polk

Diamond Massong

Duane Morris

Emery Celli

Frey Buck

Greenberg Traurig

Hausfeld LLP

Johnson Becker

Keller Rohrback

Kirkland & Ellis

Knox Ricksen

Kroger Gardis

Latham & Watkins

Lighthouse Law Group

MacDonald Hoague

Munger Tolles

Schwartz White

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Sorrels Law

Stoel Rives

Stranch Jennings

Thompson Coe

Troutman

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AVX Corp.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Arbitration Association

American Bar Association

American Federation of Government Employees

American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations

American Immigration Council Inc.

Association of Flight Attendants-CWA

BASF SE

CVS Health Corp.

California Public Defenders Association

Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

Civil Rights Corps

Columbus Regional Healthcare System Inc.

Communications Workers of America

Corporation Service Co.

Courthouse News Service Inc.

Expedia Group Inc.

Exxon Mobil Corp.

Fortra LLC

Google LLC

Kyocera Corporation

Lawyers for Civil Justice

LexisNexis Legal & Professional

LinkedIn Corp.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

London Court of International Arbitration

McAfee Inc.

McDonald's Corp.

Microsoft Corp.

Mosaic

Nike Inc.

Old Navy LLC

OpenAI OpCo LLC

RELX PLC

The Florida Bar

The Home Depot Inc.

Thomson Reuters Corp.

TransUnion LLC

Ulta Beauty Inc.

eBay Inc.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

California Supreme Court

European Commission

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Judicial Center

Florida Supreme Court

Internal Revenue Service

International Chamber of Commerce

Judicial Conference of the United States

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Transportation Security Administration

U.S. Attorney's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico

U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court

United States District Court for the District of Nevada

United States District Court for the District of Wyoming

United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana

Washington Attorney General's Office