Monsanto Reaches Terms To Settle Wash. School PCB Torts

By Rachel Riley

Monsanto has come to tentative settlement terms to end claims from roughly 200 people who say they developed various health problems from chemical contamination at a Washington state school site, parent company Bayer AG said Monday.

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Wash. High Court OKs Gun Rights Restoration In State Courts

By Parker Quinlan

The Washington Supreme Court will allow trial courts across the state to hear firearms rights restoration claims from citizens who were previously convicted of a felony, reversing a state appeals court and rebuffing the state Legislature's attempt to restrict such claims.

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Boeing Slams Fund's 737 Max 'Zombie' Fraud Claims

By Linda Chiem

Boeing told an Illinois federal judge that an investment fund has lobbed untimely "zombie" claims seeking to hold the American aerospace giant liable for allegedly misrepresenting the overall safety of the 737 Max 8 after two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019. 

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Amazon Settles Suit Over Child's Button Battery Burn Injuries

By Y. Peter Kang

A Washington federal judge has approved a settlement in a suit seeking to hold Amazon liable for severe injuries suffered by a toddler who ingested a small lithium-ion battery sold by a third-party company on Amazon, saying the terms of the deal are fair and reasonable.

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AGs Sue DOJ For Tying Victim Aid To ICE Enforcement

By Carla Baranauckas

A coalition of 21 state attorneys general, led by Matthew Platkin of New Jersey, filed suit against the Trump administration on Monday, accusing it of unlawfully tying $1 billion in crime victim funding to immigration enforcement, a move they say defies congressional intent and jeopardizes critical support for survivors.

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RI, Wash. Say 2nd Circ. Dormant Commerce Pot Ruling Is Inapt

By Sam Reisman

Officials from Rhode Island and Washington state have said in separate letters to federal circuit courts that the Second Circuit's determination last week that the Constitution's dormant commerce clause applied to marijuana should not affect their pending appeals in related cases.

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9th Circ. Splits Over Ore.'s Denial Of Christian Youth Grants

By Hailey Konnath

A split Ninth Circuit panel on Monday largely upheld a lower court's refusal to preliminarily block Oregon's requirement that recipients of certain youth grants agree not to discriminate on the basis of religion, though it also said the rule is unconstitutional if it restricts any initiatives that aren't tied to the grants.

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IYO Asks 9th Circ. To Reject OpenAI's Bid To Ax TM Injunction

By Elliot Weld

Tech firm IYO Inc. urged the Ninth Circuit to leave in place a temporary bar on OpenAI using a mark associated with acquired company IO Products Inc. amid a trademark fight, saying it was improper for OpenAI to even ask the appellate court to hear the matter at this stage.

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Age Act Doesn't Cover UC Residency Bid, 9th Circ. Affirms

By Craig Clough

The Ninth Circuit on Monday affirmed a district court's decision to grant summary judgment to the Regents of the University of California in an age discrimination suit brought by a medical residency applicant, holding that selecting medical residents is an employment practice not covered by the Age Discrimination Act.

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Rebuttal

BigLaw Settlements Should Not Spur Ethics Deregulation

A recent Law360 op-ed argued that loosening law firm funding restrictions would make BigLaw firms less inclined to settle with the Trump administration, but deregulating legal financing ethics may well prove to be not merely ineffective, but counterproductive, says Laurel Kilgour at the American Economic Liberties Project.

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Analysis

Trump's 'Abnormal' Use Of FCA Could Get Tricky In Court

By Phillip Bantz

The Trump administration is wielding the False Claims Act in unusually narrow ways to drive policies on social and cultural issues — including gender-affirming care and diversity, equity and inclusion programs — but the government's potential theories of liability under the federal law remain largely untested and might not hold up in court, experts say.

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NY US Atty Hit With Complaint For Alleged Media Retaliation

By Madison Arnold

A collection of nonprofit organizations that support press freedoms has called for an ethics investigation of acting U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III of the Northern District of New York, saying he may have "unconstitutionally retaliated" against a newspaper that reported on him.

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5th Circ. Says NLRB Structure Likely Unconstitutional

By Tim Ryan

The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday upheld injunctions barring the National Labor Relations Board from prosecuting unfair labor practice cases against SpaceX and two other companies, saying the removal protections that federal labor law gives board members and agency judges likely violate the U.S. Constitution.

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Bad Citations Aren't Always Sanctionable, Wash. Atty Argues

By Emily Sawicki

An attorney in Washington state vowed on Tuesday to appeal harsh sanctions an Arizona federal judge meted out Thursday over fake and misleading citations she included in an opening brief, releasing a statement arguing that the court's order "treats the mere existence of AI-hallucinated citations as an automatic violation" but "that is not what Rule 11 requires."

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Ex-Copyright Chief Says Trump Overstepped Role In Firing Her

By Ivan Moreno

The fired leader of the U.S. Copyright Office urged the D.C. Circuit to reject the Trump administration's arguments that her dismissal was lawful, asking the appeals court on Tuesday to return her to her job before Congress returns from recess Sept. 2.

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Family Alleging Firm's Girardi Conflict Denied Partial Win

By Craig Clough

A Los Angeles judge Tuesday denied a family's motion seeking judgment on declaratory relief claims in a $1.8 million malpractice lawsuit against a firm that represented it in recovering millions lost in Girardi Keese's embezzlement scandal, saying disputed facts remain in the "unusual" case.

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Ex-Judge Gets Law License Back After Bribery Suspension

By James Boyle

A former Philadelphia Municipal Court judge can practice law in Pennsylvania again following a split state Supreme Court decision to reinstate his license that had been suspended after he admitted to accepting $90,000 to drop out of a congressional election.

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Ex-Holland & Knight Atty Wants Another Depo From Ex-Wife

By Hailey Konnath

A former Holland & Knight LLP partner battling Pennsylvania personal injury firm Fritz & Bianculli LLC in litigation stemming from an affair and his messy divorce has pushed for his ex-wife to sit for another deposition, arguing that she wrongly refused to answer relevant questions when she was first deposed.

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DOJ Asks Full 4th Circ. To Rehear Judges' Speech Dispute

By Britain Eakin

The U.S. Department of Justice petitioned the full Fourth Circuit to rehear a June panel decision reviving a free speech suit from an immigration judges union, saying it flouts U.S. Supreme Court precedent and implements a novel legal requirement.

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FCC Democrat Poised To Sue If Trump Seeks Her Removal

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission's lone Democratic member said this week it would be unlawful for President Donald Trump to attempt to remove her from office and that she's willing to go to court if he tries.

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