Washington

  • July 28, 2026

    Zillow Judge Tosses Home Loan Claims, Leaves Door Open

    A Washington federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Zillow of paying kickbacks to brokers that directed homebuyers to use the company's mortgage services, in a scheme that plaintiffs argued inflated the overall cost of home purchases and loans.

  • July 27, 2026

    Albertsons Opioid Trial Told Of Needles, ODs In Library

    A witness in Washington's case accusing Albertsons Cos. Inc. of fueling the state's opioid crisis testified at a bench trial Monday that problem drug use was evident in a city library system she's led for nearly a decade, pointing to syringes scattered across the facility and multiple instances of overdoses.

  • July 27, 2026

    Wash. Panel Revives Island Health Wage, Break Class Action

    A Washington Court of Appeals panel has reinstated a worker's proposed class action accusing public hospital district Island Health of denying employees meal breaks and illegally rounding time worked when calculating wages, finding Monday that a trial court wrongly concluded the claims must be arbitrated under a union agreement.

  • July 27, 2026

    Kalshi Seeks To Keep Operating In Wash. Pending Appeal

    Kalshi has urged a Washington judge to pause a recent order granting the state attorney general's bid to preliminarily enjoin the prediction market platform from operating within the state, saying the injunction causes Kalshi to face a "'Hobson's choice' between state enforcement and its federal duties."

  • July 27, 2026

    OceanGate Foundation Insurer Launches Titan Coverage Suit

    Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co. urged a Seattle federal court Friday to find it has no duty to defend nonprofit OceanGate Foundation from a lawsuit filed by the family of a French explorer who died during the Titan deep-sea submersible's 2023 expedition, or otherwise rule any coverage obligations are capped at $100,000.

  • July 27, 2026

    Wash., Hayden Homes Reach $1.6M Deal To End Fee Claims

    Hayden Homes LLC and affordable housing-focused nonprofit lender First Story agreed to pay more than $1.6 million to settle Washington state's claims that they charged home sellers illegal private transfer fees, the state's attorney general announced Monday.

  • July 27, 2026

    Fertilizer Biz Asks Justices To Reverse Idaho Tribal Land Swap

    An Idaho agribusiness is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to undo a Ninth Circuit decision that invalidated a U.S. Department of the Interior land transfer over tribal concerns of contamination from a planned fertilizer plant expansion, arguing the ruling undermines the country's food security, thousands of jobs and millions in economic activity.

  • July 27, 2026

    Live Nation, DOJ Say States Have Enough Discovery Into Deal

    The U.S. Department of Justice has joined with Live Nation to resist a discovery request by a bipartisan group of state attorneys general seeking more information about a settlement the federal government reached with the company in the middle of an antitrust trial.

  • July 27, 2026

    Hemp Co. Says DEA Defied Farm Bill By Banning HHC

    A North Carolina hemp company challenging the legality of a recent U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration rule designating a psychoactive hemp-derived compound as a Schedule I substance has told the Fourth Circuit that the agency defied Congress when it issued the rule.

  • July 27, 2026

    Utilities Org. Urges FCC Not To Preempt Wash. Pole Regs

    A group representing 27 consumer-owned public utility districts in Washington state has told the Federal Communications Commission not to preempt the state's process to resolve issues stemming from mobile or internet service providers wanting to attach equipment to utility poles.

  • July 27, 2026

    Installer Sues Canadian Solar After He's Crushed By Panels

    A Washington man who owns a solar component contractor is suing Canadian Solar Inc. and its affiliates in federal court, alleging poor packaging caused 1,800 pounds of solar panels to fall over and crush him.

  • July 24, 2026

    Illinois Blocked From Giving Tuition Aid To Immigrants

    A federal judge Friday permanently barred Illinois from providing benefits such as in-state tuition and education scholarships to unauthorized immigrants, agreeing with the Trump administration's argument that the offerings run afoul of federal law by discriminating against U.S. citizens.

  • July 24, 2026

    Microsoft Seeks To Pause Or Exit Teams BIPA 'Voiceprint' Suit

    Microsoft urged a Washington federal judge Thursday to pause a proposed class action alleging its Teams software illegally intercepts meeting participants' "voiceprints" and force several of the Illinois residents to arbitrate their claims individually, or else dispose of the revised complaint entirely on the grounds that the plaintiffs still haven't detailed their interactions with the challenged feature.

  • July 24, 2026

    Real Estate Recap: Forbearance, Truck Lots, Phoenix SFR

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including attorney insights into forbearance negotiations, the latest real estate investment craze, and the ongoing challenges for Wall Street landlords in the Sun Belt.

  • July 24, 2026

    Costco Hit With Negligence Suit Over Parking Lot Shooting

    The family of a shopper who was fatally shot in a Costco parking lot in 2024 during an alleged purse-snatching attempt has launched a lawsuit in Washington state court, accusing the warehouse retailer of failing to address a history of criminal activity on store property leading up to her death.    

  • July 24, 2026

    AI-Hallucinated Citations Result In $3K Sanction For Lawyer

    A Washington federal judge on Friday sanctioned a plaintiff's attorney $3,000 after finding that she submitted multiple court filings containing dozens of fake citations and quotations generated by artificial intelligence platforms  and didn't fix the mistakes, calling the conduct "tantamount to bad faith."

  • July 24, 2026

    9th Circ. Revives Ex-Kaiser Worker's Vaccine Bias Suit

    A Ninth Circuit panel Friday revived a former Kaiser Permanente employee's discrimination suit accusing The Permanente Medical Group Inc. of unlawfully firing her for refusing a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine, ruling that the worker adequately informed the company of the vaccine's conflict with her sincerely held religious beliefs.

  • July 24, 2026

    The White Collar Boutique 'Renaissance' Is Here

    Unprecedented political pressure on BigLaw, dwindling opportunities at elite firms, powerful legal tech tools and broad slowdowns in white collar enforcement are fueling a remarkable boom in boutique law firm growth, experts say.

  • July 24, 2026

    Big Fish Can't Pursue Apple Store Takedown, Dev Says

    An Armenian game developer accused of withholding source code belonging to Big Fish Games urged a Washington federal judge Friday to block the company's attempt to have games removed from the Apple Store.

  • July 24, 2026

    Paramount Promises Not To Close Merger During Challenge

    Paramount Skydance Corp. took a fight over a preliminary injunction off the table Friday with a promise not to close its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. until June 2027 or when a California federal judge rules on the merits of challenges to the deal.

  • July 24, 2026

    9th Circ. Agrees That Assault Triggers Immigration Removal

    The Ninth Circuit has refused to review an immigration court's finding that a Mexican national living in Oregon was not unfairly charged by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as being removable after his arrest for abusing his wife in front of his children.

  • July 24, 2026

    Live Nation Says Nielsen Ruling Doesn't Help State AGs

    Live Nation is pushing back after state enforcers told a New York federal court that a recent Second Circuit ruling in a case against Nielsen supports their antitrust claims, saying the ruling instead supports its bid to undo the jury verdict.

  • July 24, 2026

    Cushman & Wakefield 401(k) Climate Risk Suit Shipped To Ill.

    A proposed class action accusing commercial real estate services giant Cushman & Wakefield of mismanaging its 401(k) plan by including a fund that ignores climate change-related financial risks has been transferred to Illinois federal court by a Washington federal judge, according to a recently filed order.

  • July 23, 2026

    UnitedHealth's $5M Demand Challenged By Wash. Dental Co.

    A dental practice is urging a Washington federal court to stop UnitedHealth from withholding future reimbursements, saying the insurer has failed to fully explain its assertion that it overpaid the practice more than $5 million for past claims, in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

  • July 23, 2026

    Nordstrom Worker Claims Missed Breaks Cost Wash. Staff Pay

    A Nordstrom Inc. worker has hit the Seattle-based retailer with a proposed wage-and-hour class action in Washington state court, accusing the company of failing to provide employees with legally mandated meal and rest breaks, then further failing to compensate them for the missed breaks.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lesson: Diagnose Before Arguing

    Author Photo

    Law school often skips over explicitly teaching students how to determine what kind of problem a case presents before they commit to a particular doctrinal path, which risks building arguments that are internally coherent but externally misaligned, says Melanie Oxhorn at Kobre & Kim.

  • Becoming The Biz-Savvy GC That Portfolio Companies Need

    Author Photo

    Candidates for general counsel roles at private equity-backed portfolio companies should prioritize proving their sector-specific experience, commercial judgment and ease with uncertainty — and attorneys hoping to be candidates in five to 10 years should start working on those skills now, says Dimitri Mastrocola at Major Lindsey.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

    Author Photo

    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • A Framework For Habeas Relief After 5th Circ. Bond Ruling

    Author Photo

    Following the Fifth Circuit’s recent Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi decision foreclosing statutory bond for detained nonimmigrants not deemed admitted to the U.S., lawyers should adopt a framework that requests habeas relief pursuant to the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

    Author Photo

    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • How 'Bundling' Enforcement Is Parsing Efficiency, Access

    Author Photo

    Recent antitrust enforcement actions have taken a selective view of companies' bundling of products or services — challenging it when it shuts out rivals, but tolerating it when it creates efficient scale — making the real test now less about lower prices than about whether competition is being blocked, says attorney Alan Kusinitz.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

    Author Photo

    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • Key Tronic Case Shows SEC Isn't Ignoring Controls Violations

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's first nonfraud enforcement action against a public company during Chairman Paul Atkins' tenure reflects the commission’s willingness to bring enforcement actions that charge books and records and internal controls violations, despite deviating from policing technical violations, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Where The Preemption Fight Over Prediction Markets Stands

    Author Photo

    While the Third Circuit's recent ruling in Kalshi v. Flaherty remains a significant win for the federal government in its quest to regulate prediction markets, the Fourth, Sixth and Ninth Circuits appear more skeptical, indicating that this fight is likely headed for the Supreme Court, says Johnny ElHachem at Holland & Knight.

  • 4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

    Author Photo

    Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

  • Heppner Ruling Left AI Privilege Risk For Lawyers Unresolved

    Author Photo

    While a New York federal judge’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner resolved a privilege question surrounding client-side artificial intelligence use, it did not address how to mitigate the risks that can arise when confidential information enters the operative context of an AI system used by an attorney, says Jianfei Chen at Quarles & Brady​​​​​​​.

  • The Ethics And Practicalities Of Representing AI Agents

    Author Photo

    With autonomous artificial intelligence agents now able to take action without explicit instructions from — or the awareness of — their human owners, the bar must confront whether existing frameworks like informed consent and client privilege will be sufficient on the day an AI agent calls seeking counsel, say attorneys at Morrison Cohen.

  • Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

    Author Photo

    Notable insurance class action decisions from the first quarter of the year included reminders about the statute of limitations as a key defense for claims relating to allegedly deficient forms, the importance of focus on the specific contract at issue and further guidance on the contours of Rule 23, says Kevin Zimmerman at BakerHostetler.

  • 9th Circ.'s Silence Prolongs Uncertainty On Cemex Framework

    Author Photo

    By affirming a bargaining order in Cemex Construction Materials v. National Labor Relations Board without opining on the NLRB’s 2023 expansion of its authority to issue such orders, the Ninth Circuit avoided direct conflict with the Sixth Circuit’s rejection of the same framework, prolonging uncertainty for employers facing union elections, say attorneys at Dinsmore & Shohl.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Washington archive.