Washington

  • September 24, 2026

    Labcorp Inks $2.3M Deal To Resolve Multistate Data Breach

    Labcorp will pay nearly $2.3 million and adopt data security changes under a multistate settlement resolving investigations into a 2019 breach at its former debt collection vendor, a group of state attorneys general announced Thursday.

  • September 24, 2026

    AGs Push Congress To Regulate AI But Not Preempt State Laws

    Nearly half the attorneys general in the United States implored Congress in a letter Thursday to "immediately" regulate the artificial intelligence industry and prohibit federal action from preempting state laws, telling U.S. House and Senate leaders that national security is at stake.

  • September 24, 2026

    YMCA Gets No Coverage In Child Sex Abuse Suit, Insurer Says

    Great American Insurance sued YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties in Washington federal court Wednesday, arguing it has no duty to defend it in an underlying child sexual abuse lawsuit and that the defendant exhausted one of the applicable policy limits for payment of other abuse claims against it.

  • September 24, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs Dual Deals Over Inaccessible LA Housing

    The Ninth Circuit found a whistleblower is not entitled to a portion of a $200 million settlement Los Angeles reached with federal officials to correct years of noncompliance with accessibility requirements in public housing after the plaintiff struck a separate deal in a fraud complaint over the city's conduct. 

  • September 24, 2026

    5 Circuit Splits To Watch At The High Court

    The U.S. Supreme Court has been deciding fewer and fewer cases over the past three decades, with its caseload reaching a historic low just last term. While attorneys believe several factors have contributed to that trend, they say one of the most consequential is the court's apparent declining interest in resolving circuit splits. 

  • September 24, 2026

    Wash. Winemaker's Spoilage Coverage Claim Capped At $40K

    A Washington winemaker cannot recover more than $40,000 in coverage for its loss of nearly 18,000 bottles of wine due to a faulty air conditioner, a federal court ruled, saying the winemaker's commercial property coverage limits recovery for spoilage caused by mechanical breakdown and temperature fluctuations.

  • September 24, 2026

    Insurer Ends Coverage Suit Over $20M Cable Damage Case

    Great American Insurance Co. has agreed to drop its lawsuit seeking a declaration that it does not have a duty to defend a Washington-based buoy installation company against claims over damages to an underwater electric cable that could cost more than $20 million to replace.

  • September 24, 2026

    9th Circ. Reinstates Vax Objector's Religious Bias Case

    The Ninth Circuit on Sept. 24 reopened a nurse's lawsuit alleging an Oregon hospital unlawfully put her on unpaid leave rather than accommodate her religious objection to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, faulting the trial court for overlooking a letter in which she explained why she wanted an exemption.

  • September 23, 2026

    Liquor Distributor's Insurer Fights Coverage Of Worker's Suit

    Employers Mutual Casualty Co. filed suit in Washington federal court Wednesday seeking an order declaring that the insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify policyholder American Northwest Distributors Inc. against an ex-worker's proposed wage-and-hour class action.

  • September 23, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs Delta Immunity Over In-Flight Restraint

    Airlines are broadly immune from civil litigation when they report to law enforcement a passenger behaving suspiciously, the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday, ending litigation by a passenger who secured a $7 million verdict against Delta Air Lines after a jury found he had not behaved suspiciously and that flight staff had caused him to be injured.

  • September 23, 2026

    Organ Network Says Kidney Race Bias Claims Can't Proceed

    The United Network for Organ Sharing is seeking to exit a proposed class action claiming it prolonged wait times for Black patients seeking kidney transplants by encouraging hospitals to use a flawed race-based adjustment when measuring kidney function, saying the network's policy was "silent" as to how such scores were calculated.

  • September 23, 2026

    Boeing Pushes For Pretrial Win In Norwegian Air 737 Max Suit

    The Boeing Co. has asked a Washington federal judge to hand it a win in Norwegian Air subsidiaries' suit over their purchase of 737 Max airplanes, arguing there is no evidence supporting the subsidiaries' claims that Boeing misled them as to the safety and reliability of the aircraft.

  • September 23, 2026

    9th Circ. Grounds Suit Over Wash. Airport Flight Path Pollution

    A Ninth Circuit panel said Wednesday that a provision of the Clean Air Act limiting state regulation of aircraft emissions is enough to extinguish a group of Washington residents' proposed class action against Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines and the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's operator over alleged flight path pollution.

  • September 23, 2026

    Microsoft Heads Face Derivative Action Over Inflection AI Deal

    Three Microsoft Corp. investors filed a shareholder derivative suit in Washington state court Monday over claims the company's leaders wrongfully approved a March 2024 licensing agreement with Inflection AI Inc. aimed at bailing out Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and entrepreneur Reid Hoffman after their investments in the startup soured.

  • September 23, 2026

    9th Circ. Won't Rehear Klamath Project ESA Ruling

    The Ninth Circuit said Wednesday it won't disturb a divided three-judge panel's ruling affirming that a federal regulator must abide by the Endangered Species Act's interagency consultation requirements as it operates a water management project in northern California and southern Oregon.

  • September 23, 2026

    Wash. Judge Blocks Ed. Dept. Mental Health Grant Cuts

    A Washington federal judge preliminarily enjoined the U.S. Education Department from terminating up to $1 billion in K–12 mental health grants serving 15 states, finding states provided sufficient evidence that the agency was planning to unlawfully cut those grants.

  • September 23, 2026

    9th Circ. Rejects Squatter's-Rights Claim On Dead Baby's Name

    Walter Glenn Primrose testified at trial that he stole a dead baby's name to escape debt and threats in the 1980s and used it for three decades — even joining the U.S. Coast Guard and becoming a defense contractor — before his arrest and convictions. This week, the Ninth Circuit rejected Primrose's novel claim that his identity theft convictions can't stand because he has squatter's rights over the infant's identity.

  • September 23, 2026

    Walmart Can't Nix Worker's $300K Retaliation Trial Win

    A Washington federal judge declined Wednesday to scrap a $300,000 trial win for a former Walmart employee who claimed she was fired for reporting that her manager failed to shut down sexual harassment, calling the jury's verdict fair amid evidence of her boss' unfair treatment.

  • September 23, 2026

    Delta Anti-Moonlighting Suit Sent Back To Wash. State Court

    A federal judge has sent a proposed class action accusing Delta Air Lines of barring low-wage workers from holding second jobs back to Washington state court, finding the worker who brought the suit failed to show she suffered a concrete injury that gave the federal court authority to hear the case.

  • September 23, 2026

    DC Pied-à-Terre Tax Plan Targets Pricey Second Homes

    Washington, D.C., would impose additional property tax on homes worth about $2.6 million or more that are not rented out or used as primary residences under legislation before the district council.

  • September 23, 2026

    'Hanging In There' Doesn't Ax Disability Claim, 9th Circ. Says

    "Hanging in there" and working through the pain of a worsening disability is not a reason to reject the testimony of someone seeking Social Security benefits, the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday.

  • September 23, 2026

    Zillow Starts Renewed Bid To Exit Home Loan Kickbacks Suit

    Zillow Group Inc. and its subsidiaries have filed a new dismissal bid in Washington federal court against a consolidated third amended class action complaint that accuses Zillow of running an illegal kickbacks scheme that provides affiliated brokers with business leads if they push homebuyers to use the company's allegedly overpriced Zillow Home Loans program.

  • September 23, 2026

    9th Circ. Says Pre-2013 Life Policies Needn't Get Lapse Forms

    Life insurers are not required to send designation forms to California policyholders whose policies were issued before 2013, when a state law requiring carriers to provide applicants with a form to designate another individual to receive notice of a lapse or termination went into effect, the Ninth Circuit ruled.

  • September 23, 2026

    State Pols Urge Justices To Rein In Kalshi's Sports Offerings

    A coalition of state lawmakers has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Third Circuit decision allowing Kalshi to keep its sports offerings online in New Jersey, emphasizing that sports betting oversight must be left to the states.

  • September 22, 2026

    Feds' Latest Permit For Calif. Pipeline Challenged At 9th Circ.

    Environmental groups are urging the Ninth Circuit to review Trump administration's recent decision approving operations of two coastal California oil pipeline segments, including one that was shut down for years following a 2015 oil spill, saying on Tuesday that the new permit waives key safety requirements.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Surveying The CFTC Campaign To Control Prediction Markets

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is simultaneously asserting exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets and signaling aggressive enforcement within them, a combination that will reshape the regulatory landscape for event contract platforms — pending the outcome of several court cases throughout the country and a likely circuit split, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Series

    Speed Jigsaw Puzzling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    My passion for speed puzzling — I can complete a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle in under 50 minutes — has sharpened my legal skills in more ways than one, with both disciplines requiring patience, precision and the ability to keep the bigger picture in mind while working through the details, says Tazia Statucki at Proskauer.

  • How Oregon Ruling Affects Federal Gender Care Crackdown

    Author Photo

    In a favorable development for healthcare providers, an Oregon federal court recently vacated certain U.S. Department of Health and Human Services restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, but the government's broader campaign against this care, including proposed rulemaking and agency investigations, leaves significant uncertainty, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • A Core Weakness In The Challenge To Birthright Citizenship

    Author Photo

    The government’s recent oral arguments against birthright citizenship in Trump v. Barbara would have the Supreme Court use modern immigration classifications as markers for a constitutional boundary that is not expressed in the Fourteenth Amendment, making the theory easier to administer but weaker as a matter of text and history, says attorney Tara Kennedy.

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.