Washington

  • August 26, 2026

    Iowa, Montana Ask Justices To Stop Paramount Merger Case

    Iowa and Montana are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop California and other state enforcers from challenging Paramount Skydance Corp.'s planned purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, calling the effort "a partisan enforcement action" that targets a procompetitive deal.

  • August 26, 2026

    Chemical Co. Reps Can't Dissolve $1.9M Trade Secret Verdict

    A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a request by three chemical sales representatives to undo a $1.9 million jury verdict for their former employer in a trade secret dispute, ruling that Silver Fern Chemical Inc. clearly demonstrated that they took confidential customer information that was valuable and not readily accessible elsewhere.

  • August 26, 2026

    9th Circ. Panel Won't Revisit Boeing's $72M Trade Secret Loss

    A Ninth Circuit panel has rejected Boeing's bid for a panel rehearing of its August 2025 decision reinstating a $72 million jury verdict for electric jet startup Zunum Aero Inc. in a trade secret dispute, spurning the aerospace giant's fresh argument that the case belongs in the Federal Circuit because of the patent counterclaims involved.

  • August 26, 2026

    Suit Says Tesla Model Y Ran Into Barrier, Failed To Deploy Airbags

    A Boeing aircraft technician claims defects in his 2022 Tesla Model Y caused the vehicle to crash into a concrete barrier where another defect prevented his air bag from deploying, leaving him with permanent spinal injuries, in a lawsuit in Washington state court.

  • August 26, 2026

    Group Says HHS Can't Cut Certain Immigrants' Medicaid

    A Seattle-based community organization accused the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of misinterpreting the 2025 federal budget bill, telling a Washington federal court it cannot strip Medicaid benefits away from noncitizens receiving Supplemental Security Income.

  • August 26, 2026

    O'Reilly Worker Says Auto Retailer Shorted Breaks, Sick Pay

    A retail worker for an O'Reilly Auto Parts subsidiary has accused the company of failing to pay Washington state employees for missed meal breaks and post-shift work, part of an alleged systematic practice of undercompensation in which workers are also restricted from discussing their wages with others.

  • August 26, 2026

    5th Circ. Revives Bank's Bid For Ponzi Proceeds

    A Washington bank will get another shot at proving it is owed more than the $2.5 million it was awarded as a Ponzi scheme victim, with the Fifth Circuit ruling a lower court didn't grant the bank due process in approving a report from the receiver handling reimbursement.

  • August 26, 2026

    Boeing Beats Bid For More Depos In Moon Mission IP Suit

    A Colorado aerospace company cannot conduct additional depositions in its lawsuit accusing The Boeing Co. of stealing patented technology for a NASA moon exploration program, a Washington federal magistrate judge ruled.

  • August 26, 2026

    States Renew Bid To Block New Mail-In Ballot Rule

    A coalition of 24 states and the District of Columbia again asked a Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday to block implementation of the U.S. Postal Service's rule restricting delivery of mail-in ballots, after the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for an earlier injunction to be lifted.

  • August 26, 2026

    Meta Makes $17B Deal With States Over Child Harms

    Meta has agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion and enact reforms to Facebook and Instagram to resolve sprawling social media addiction claims, in the midst of a high-stakes bellwether trial over whether the company hid or downplayed its platforms' allegedly harmful impact on minors, state enforcers say.

  • August 25, 2026

    Albertsons Witness Says Co.'s Opioid Policies Beat Standards

    Albertsons' pharmacy policies for reviewing potentially suspicious opioid prescriptions "met or exceeded" the standard of care, an expert witness for the company testified Tuesday, on the 26th day of a bench trial in Washington's case accusing the pharmacy chain of fueling the state's opioid epidemic.

  • August 25, 2026

    9th Circ. Panel Largely Upholds Block On Feds' Grant Terms

    A divided Ninth Circuit panel Tuesday mostly upheld an injunction blocking the Trump administration from imposing new grant restrictions on transportation and housing funding for dozens of local governments, concluding federal agencies likely overstepped their authority by barring the money from being used to promote "gender ideology" or "illegal immigration."

  • August 25, 2026

    Dog Food Suit Undercut By Own FDA Citations, Costco Says

    Costco has told a Washington federal court that the very sources cited in a recent proposed class action undercut claims that grain-free dog food contributes to canine heart disease and that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't found such a connection or issued a recall.

  • August 25, 2026

    Feds Seek Dismissal of Tribe's Burial Site Construction Claims

    The U.S. Department of Commerce is looking to exit a Lummi Nation lawsuit claiming broadband construction disturbed ancestral remains, saying a Washington federal court lacks jurisdiction over the Native American tribe's suit because the department has not yet taken any final agency action.

  • August 25, 2026

    Ex-Taro Exec Slips Some Generics Price-Fixing Claims

    A Connecticut federal judge gave a former Taro Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. marketing executive a partial victory in generic drug price-fixing litigation, tossing several claims by state attorneys general but allowing others to proceed after finding that a jury could conclude he joined certain conspiracies.

  • August 25, 2026

    Tort Report: Mass. Jury Delivers Record Amazon Crash Verdict

    A record personal injury verdict against Amazon in a crash case and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler's upcoming sex abuse trial lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

  • August 25, 2026

    Ed Dept. Must Turn Over Records In Mental Health Grants Row

    A Washington federal judge Monday partly granted a group of states' bid for expedited discovery in their suit over the Trump administration's attempt to cut nearly $1 billion in funding for K-12 mental health grants, finding the information could assist the court before a hearing for a preliminary injunction.

  • August 25, 2026

    9th Circ. Says Congress Kept NSA Report Outside FOIA

    A Ninth Circuit panel has affirmed the National Security Agency's decision to not grant a Freedom of Information Act request to release a nearly six-decade-old report on the sinking of the USS Liberty.

  • August 25, 2026

    Potato Processor Fights Collective Bid In Break, OT Suit

    A Washington potato processor urged a federal judge to reject a former forklift driver's bid to conditionally certify a statewide collective of hourly workers who say they were denied pay for automatically deducted meal breaks and pre-shift work.

  • August 25, 2026

    Target Says Wash. Law Blocks Baby Formula Botulism Claims

    Target Corp. is asking a Washington federal court to throw out claims against it by parents who say their infant child developed infant botulism after eating baby formula purchased at the store, saying the Washington Product Liability Act protects retail sellers from such claims.

  • August 25, 2026

    Judge Concerned About Misinformation In RealPage Case

    A Tennessee federal judge has instructed a settlement administrator in the rent price-fixing litigation against RealPage and others to send out new notices informing eligible class members they have not been left out of deals worth more than $359 million, finding counsel representing intervenors in the case may have wrongfully told parties they've been excluded.

  • August 25, 2026

    Calif. Judge OKs $2.25M Settlement In Crab Price-Fixing Suit

    A California judge has preliminarily approved a $2.25 million fund to settle a proposed class action accusing an Oregon seafood company of a conspiracy to cap prices paid to fishermen for Dungeness crab in the Pacific Northwest.

  • August 24, 2026

    'So What?': Albertsons Judge Skeptical Of Wash. Opioid Suit

    A Washington state judge considering Albertsons' mid-trial motion to dismiss allegations it fueled the state's opioid epidemic told lawyers for the state Monday that while they might have shown the pharmacy chain failed to implement an adequate monitoring system, she's still skeptical the company's conduct actually caused the overdose crisis.

  • August 24, 2026

    Seattle Hookah Lounge Sued Over Fatal Shooting

    The family of a woman shot and killed at a hookah lounge in Seattle are suing several companies connected to the establishment in Washington state court, claiming they negligently allowed violence to occur and failed to provide adequate security despite a known "history of criminal activity" at the location.

  • August 24, 2026

    Microsoft Says Consumer Must Arbitrate Tariff Refund Claims

    Microsoft urged a Washington federal judge Friday to force arbitration of an Xbox buyer's proposed class action alleging the company seeks to pocket tariff refunds meant for customers — or toss the case entirely — contending console prices change over time "for a variety of reasons having nothing to do with tariffs."

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lesson: Diagnose Before Arguing

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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.

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