Washington

  • October 14, 2026

    AGs Say Character.AI Chats Must Be Protected In Ch. 11 Sale

    A group of state attorneys general told a Delaware bankruptcy judge Wednesday that protection of minors and privacy concerns need to be addressed before the company behind artificial intelligence entertainment platform Character.AI is allowed to sell its data in its Chapter 11 case.

  • October 14, 2026

    Paramount, State AGs Chose Certainty Over Merger Trial Risk

    Paramount Skydance closed its $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery on Oct. 6, after reaching a settlement with state enforcers that experts say was driven by both politics and the underlying litigation risk for both sides.

  • October 14, 2026

    Carpenters Broker $9.25M Deal In $250M Pension Loss Suit

    The trustees of a carpenters pension plan and an investment advisor promised to pay $9.25 million to resolve a suit from workers who claimed they saw a $250 million loss in savings when the plan invested in speculative Allianz index funds, according to a Washington federal court filing.

  • October 14, 2026

    Couple Says Target Can't Escape Tainted Baby Formula Suit

    Two parents are urging a Washington federal court not to throw out their claims against Target Corp. in a suit alleging their baby contracted infant botulism from tainted baby formula sold at the store, saying their complaint sufficiently pleads that Target had a duty of reasonable care and should have looked into its sources.

  • October 13, 2026

    Landlord Discovery OK'd In Yardi Rental Rate Software Suit

    A Washington federal judge said Tuesday that renters can pursue discovery from landlords in a proposed antitrust class action targeting Yardi's rent-setting software for multifamily property managers, while largely denying the tech firm's summary judgment bid — a ruling that would allow for more factfinding before definitively resolving the arguments.  

  • October 13, 2026

    MIT Says Amazon Web Services Infringes Security Tech Patent

    Amazon Web Services Inc.'s use of certain hardware fingerprinting technology in its cloud computing services violates a pair of Massachusetts Institute of Technology patents related to cryptography and hardware identification, the university alleged Friday in Massachusetts federal court.

  • October 13, 2026

    Rivian Failed To Pay Workers For Required Training, Suit Says

    A former Rivian LLC service technician brought a proposed class action against the automaker in Washington state court, claiming the company pressured workers to forgo their legally protected meal and rest periods, and failed to pay them for mandatory training sessions completed at home and off the clock.

  • October 13, 2026

    Consumers Win Partial Class Cert. In Amazon Antitrust Suit

    A Washington federal judge has partly granted a group of online shoppers' class certification bid in an antitrust case claiming Amazon's vendor pricing policies led to them paying more for goods offered by third-party sellers on Walmart and eBay's online marketplaces, according to a recent docket entry.  

  • October 13, 2026

    Justices Won't Review 9th Circ. Revival Of Trafficking Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review the full Ninth Circuit's February ruling that Congress' 2023 bill clarifying civil liability for companies that "attempt to benefit" from human trafficking of Cambodian workers can apply retroactively.

  • October 13, 2026

    Del. High Court Upholds Forum Limit In Amazon Records Case

    The Delaware Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision that both curtailed the type of records an Amazon shareholder can seek as it investigates alleged anticompetitive behavior at the company, and restricted where the investor can sue. 

  • October 13, 2026

    Wash. School District Defends Trans Policy At High Court

    A Washington state school district rebuked a suit challenging its permissive transgender athlete policies Tuesday, telling the U.S. Supreme Court that the legal fight is not nearly ripe enough for high court scrutiny. 

  • October 13, 2026

    Judge Rejects Updated AG Bid To Join RealPage Deal Talks

    A Tennessee federal judge said he would consider objections from state attorneys general to terms of a possible settlement in multidistrict litigation over alleged price-fixing enabled by RealPage software, despite rejecting a renewed move by the states to intervene in the negotiations.

  • October 13, 2026

    High Court Will Not Hear Fiat Chrysler Defect Row

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to weigh whether an arbitrator or a court should decide the proper venue for a dispute involving a nonsignatory to an arbitration agreement in an appeal brought by Fiat Chrysler in a proposed class action over allegedly defective Jeep and Dodge headrests.

  • October 13, 2026

    Justices Won't Eye 'Weaponized' Sanctions Of Election Attys

    Despite outrage among Ninth Circuit conservatives, the U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to scrutinize six-figure sanctions of lawyers who challenged Arizona election protocols, leaving intact discipline designed to "send a message."

  • October 09, 2026

    Real Estate Recap: Q3 Deals, NYC Renos, Calif. Data Center Laws

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including a look at the top real estate deals of the third quarter, and conversations with leading attorneys on older New York City buildings and new California data center laws.

  • October 09, 2026

    9th Circ. Sides With Forest Service In Idaho Project Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday reversed a lower court's finding that the U.S. Forest Service ran afoul of the National Forest Management Act when it approved an Idaho project, ruling the court erred when analyzing the project's compliance with limits on road construction in areas in and around bear habitat.

  • October 09, 2026

    Mill Co. Says It's Immune To Suit Over Deadly Tank Collapse

    Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. LLC, which runs a Pacific Northwest pulp and paper mill where 11 employees died after a chemical tank burst in May, has told a Washington judge that a wrongful death suit over the incident can't proceed because of the state's workers' compensation law.

  • October 09, 2026

    Ex-Atty Gets 2-Year Sentence For $1.5M Estate Fraud In Wash.

    A Seattle federal judge has sentenced a former Washington state attorney to two years in prison for wire fraud after the ex-lawyer admitted to stealing more than $1.5 million from an estate he was hired to probate, then taking steps to cover his tracks.  

  • October 09, 2026

    Apple, Amazon Hit With New IPad Sale Antitrust Suit

    Amazon and Apple were hit with a proposed antitrust class action again on Friday in Washington federal court by customers who alleged the tech giants violated the Sherman Act through an illegal arrangement to eliminate nearly all Apple reseller competitors from Amazon, which raised prices for iPads.

  • October 09, 2026

    Boeing Can't Preclude Punitive Damages In Door Plug Suit

    A Washington judge Friday rejected The Boeing Co.'s effort to shut down passengers' bid for punitive damages in a lawsuit over the 2024 blowout of an aircraft door plug, allowing the plaintiffs time to conduct more discovery around whether Illinois law applies.

  • October 09, 2026

    9th Circ. Says AmeriBen Data Breach Enough To Allege Injury

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday revived a proposed data breach class action alleging health plan administrator AmeriBen unlawfully revealed patients' information, ruling the disclosures were enough to sustain a lawsuit even if the underlying information might seem "mundane."

  • October 09, 2026

    Amazon Can't Push Back FTC Antitrust Trial

    A Washington federal judge refused Friday to delay the Federal Trade Commission antitrust trial accusing Amazon.com Inc. of creating an artificial pricing floor in online retail, forcing the company to try to navigate a potential timing overlap in parallel state court litigation from the California attorney general.

  • October 09, 2026

    Amazon, Nitrous Cos. Marketed Gas For Inhaling, Suit Says

    Nearly 100 consumers are suing Amazon.com Inc. and multiple nitrous oxide manufacturers in Washington state court, alleging the companies marketed candy-flavored gas canisters for recreational inhalation without warning them that they are addictive or could cause paralysis, brain damage and even death.

  • October 09, 2026

    DirecTV, AGs Can't See Nexstar-Tegna Benefits Yet

    A California federal magistrate judge refused to make Nexstar and Tegna explain how their $6.2 billion merger will boost local news against streaming competition and accelerate technological transition, rejecting as premature a motion to compel from DirecTV and the bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general challenging the deal.

  • October 09, 2026

    'A Moral Hazard': Kalshi Drug Trial Bets Spark Ethical Qualms

    Kalshi Inc. opening prediction markets for clinical drug trials has raised a host of compliance concerns for attorneys, including the risk of insider trading among the wide swaths of stakeholders in the know about the trials, as well as the danger of compromising the trials themselves.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Being A Magician Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I've developed as a lifelong magician have translated directly into tangible benefits in the courtroom because performing magic and trying cases both live at the intersection of psychology, storytelling, timing and disciplined rehearsal, says Mark Dombroff at Fox Rothschild.

  • Opinion

    Shareholder Derivative Litigation Needs A Better Framework

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    Uncoordinated, multiforum shareholder derivative litigation is a growing issue for corporate defendants that have little to no recourse for organizing and consolidating actions, but several commonsense steps should be utilized to preempt such disputes, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • 2 AI Washing Rulings Apply Familiar Securities Fraud Rules

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    Two recent federal court decisions to allow AI washing complaints to proceed begin to clarify the line between nonactionable optimism and actionable misstatements by framing the core issue as not overstating the promise of artificial intelligence, but misrepresenting the current state of a company's products, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Bass Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Landing a trophy striped bass and closing a big deal both require cultivating the patience to finesse — not force — your way to desired outcomes, changing course when your old approach isn’t working and learning from the ones that got away, says Jon Ruiss at Alston & Bird.

  • Roundup

    The Most Talked-About Supreme Court Decisions Of 2026

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    This term, 11 U.S. Supreme Court decisions quickly became hot topics among Law360's guest writers.

  • Justices Stand On Statutory Specifics In Cisco And Landor

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    With its June 23 decisions in Cisco Systems Inc. v. Doe and Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety, the U.S. Supreme Court doubled down on the critical point that the statute invoked in a federal claim must authorize a private lawsuit and the remedy sought, says Patrick Judd at Phelps Dunbar.

  • How Maine's Expanded Health Deal Reviews Complicate M&A

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    A pair of recently approved Maine competition laws establish notice and approval requirements for certain healthcare transactions and expand state antitrust oversight, creating new hurdles for dealmakers as states take a more aggressive role in policing healthcare consolidation, especially involving private equity, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Series

    Choral Singing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Singing in the New York City Bar Chorus — a hobby partly inspired by the late U.S. District Judge Richard Owen, who infused my clerkship year with opera music — has improved my legal career by refining my abilities to listen, exude confidence and develop emotional intelligence, says Bonnie Baker at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

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    As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

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    Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

  • Ill. Law Firm MSO Bill Clashes With Court Power, Ethics Rules

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    An Illinois bill prohibiting law firms from certain business arrangements with management service organizations, sent to the governor for signature last week, encroaches upon the courts' constitutional powers and goes beyond the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct in regulating investment in law-related services, says Matthew O’Hara at Smith Gambrell.

  • Google Antitrust Case Puts Spotlight On De Facto Exclusivity

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    Mozilla's recent amicus filing in U.S. v. Google arguing that its agreement to make Google the default search engine did not amount to de facto exclusivity highlights the growing debate over traditional indicators of exclusivity, with implications for any business that uses rebates, preferred contracts or volume incentives, says Chris Gowen at WilmU Farnan School of Law.

  • 3rd Circ. Decision Sheds Light On BIPA Bank Exemption

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    The Third Circuit's recent decision in McGoveran v. Amazon illuminates how courts are extending the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act's financial institution carveout beyond banks and insurers to technology vendors and other businesses handling biometric data, a defendant-friendly shift that still casts uncertainty around BIPA's enforcement, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.

  • Opinion

    State Courts Must Be Gatekeepers Of Expert Testimony

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    Based on my experience in the state judiciary, emulating federal courts' role as gatekeepers of expert witness testimony would help state court judges maintain the appearance of impartiality and assist juries, thus enhancing the overall confidence people have in their justice system, says Lorie Gildea at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Series

    Moshing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Entering a mosh pit is much like entering the practice of law — it is difficult, you have to know both the written and unwritten rules, and conduct yourself according to the expectations of each community, says Christopher Deubert at Constangy Brooks.

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