Washington

  • March 24, 2026

    Judge Extends Halt On Trump Admin's College Data Demand

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday again extended a deadline for colleges and universities to comply with a Trump administration demand for seven years of race and gender admissions data while he considers the scope of an anticipated preliminary injunction that would shield public schools in 17 states.

  • March 24, 2026

    Justices Hunt For 'Magic' Border Line In Asylum Turnback Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday wrestled with when a noncitizen "arrives in" the U.S., but struggled to pin down whether someone's foot, hand or nose must cross a "magic" line that would obligate border officials to process them.

  • March 24, 2026

    Heritage Bank Client Alleges 'Unsecure' Servers Led To Breach

    A Heritage Bank customer claimed in a putative class action Tuesday that the Washington-based financial institution failed to properly guard users' personal data that was stolen in a March 1 cyberattack, alleging the company used substandard security practices and failed to update its systems on a timely basis.

  • March 24, 2026

    Wash. Mandates AI Content Flags, Suicide Safeguards

    Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed a pair of bills on Tuesday requiring large artificial intelligence companies to embed data that distinguishes deepfakes as AI-generated and forcing companion chatbot developers to take steps to protect minor users from suicide and self-harm.

  • March 24, 2026

    Union Fails To Shut Down Suit Over Retirement Plan Roster

    A carpenters union and its retirement plan manager failed in an early bid to defeat a class action claiming they violated federal benefits law by investing retirement plan assets in risky funds that lost more than $250 million, with a Washington federal judge saying the Ninth Circuit already determined that the workers have a viable claim.

  • March 24, 2026

    Wash. Store Owner, Insurer Say Tool Co. Owes $8.7M For Fire

    A defective Stanley Black & Decker Inc. battery pack caused a fire that destroyed a Washington Ace Hardware store, the store owner and its insurer said Tuesday in a suit against the toolmaker in Washington federal court, seeking to recover more than $8.7 million in damages.

  • March 24, 2026

    Justices Asked To Revisit 9th Circ.'s Walmart Copyright Ruling

    A sculptural lamp designer has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a split Ninth Circuit decision that overturned part of a copyright jury verdict against Walmart, arguing that the appellate court improperly reweighed trial evidence after the retailer failed to appeal the denial of its post-verdict motion for judgment as a matter of law.

  • March 24, 2026

    Judge Clears Notice For Screening Program Suit Settlement

    A Washington federal judge signed off on a notice for a class action settlement that would have U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services repeal a program used to review naturalization and green card applications for people deemed to raise national security concerns.

  • March 24, 2026

    Zillow Wants Out Of Proposed Monopoly Class Action

    Zillow Group Inc. urged a Washington federal court to dismiss a proposed class action alleging real estate agents were forced to promote its loan business in exchange for client referrals, arguing the agents failed to name which market was impacted by the alleged conduct.

  • March 24, 2026

    Justices Won't Review Class Cert. In Diabetes Drug Risk Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review whether a federal court can certify a class of third-party payors who claim drugmakers hid the cancer risks of an anti-diabetes drug.

  • March 23, 2026

    Timeshare Exit Co.'s Insurer Challenges $630M Class Deal

    Insurance provider General Casualty Co. of Wisconsin on Friday challenged client Reed Hein & Associates LLC's $630 million settlement with a class of Reed Hein customers in Washington federal court, saying the figure was crafted by a plaintiffs' expert with no relevant background.

  • March 23, 2026

    Wash. OKs Cash Transaction Rounding Rules As Penny Fades

    Washington adopted a law on Monday allowing cash retail transactions to be rounded to the nearest nickel increment, providing clarity for Evergreen State merchants in the wake of the federal government's decision to stop making pennies last year.

  • March 23, 2026

    Marketing Firm Claims $23M Loss In Client-Poaching Suit

    A Georgia-based digital marketing agency said its former executive based in Texas siphoned off confidential client lists and proprietary strategies tied to auto dealership clients before launching a rival firm, costing the company about $23 million in lost business.

  • March 23, 2026

    Atty, New Firm Face DQ Bid In Fight Over Arbitration Fees

    A woman being sued by a Chinese law firm in Washington federal court as it looks to get paid for its arbitration services seeks to disqualify the firm's U.S.-based counsel, saying her lawyer went to work for the American firm but didn't disclose that she had been involved in the case.

  • March 23, 2026

    New Wash. Laws Create NLRB Stand-In, Ban Noncompetes

    Wash. Gov. Bob Ferguson signed employment bills on Monday establishing a fallback framework for the state to oversee certain private-sector labor disputes in the case that the National Labor Relations Board's jurisdiction is scaled back by the federal government and expanding the state's restrictions on noncompete provisions to an outright ban.

  • March 23, 2026

    9th Circ. Upholds Trafficking Enhancement In Ghost Gun Case

    The Ninth Circuit ruled Monday that an illegal ghost gun manufacturer can be given a firearm trafficking sentencing enhancement despite not knowing whether a buyer planned on using the firearms illegally.

  • March 23, 2026

    States Say USDA Added Illegal Strings To Food Assistance

    A group of 20 states and the District of Columbia sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday over what the coalition called unlawful and coercive new conditions on funding for programs like school lunches and food assistance.

  • March 23, 2026

    Wash. Firm, Ex-Client Clash Over Fee Agreement Terms

    A Spokane, Washington-headquartered intellectual property firm and a former client embroiled in a $7.2 million fee dispute in Washington federal court are sparring over whether an email exchange constitutes a formal change to a fee arrangement underlying the action, as both sides fight for an early end to claims.

  • March 23, 2026

    New Wash. Law Cuts Antispam Penalties Amid Multiple Suits

    Statutory penalties for emails sent in violation of Washington state's Commercial Electronic Mail Act, which bars messages with false or misleading subject lines, will fall from $500 per email to $100 under a measure signed into law by Gov. Bob Ferguson on Monday.

  • March 23, 2026

    Immigration Judges To Challenge Their Firing At Fed. Circ.

    Attorneys for a pair of fired immigration judges said Monday they will ask the Federal Circuit to review a federal panel ruling that stripped them of civil service protections, warning of a dramatic expansion of presidential authority over the civil workforce.

  • March 23, 2026

    Democratic AGs Demand IEEPA Tariff Refund Legislation

    A group of Democratic state attorneys general pushed congressional leaders to enact legislation that would require timely refunds of all duties levied under the now-invalidated International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs, including interest.

  • March 23, 2026

    High Court Denies Chinook Nation's Path To Recognition

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a Washington Indigenous nation's petition that could have led to federal recognition in a centuries-old struggle to regain the status after it was stripped by the George W. Bush administration.

  • March 23, 2026

    Labor & Employment Head Named Next Morgan Lewis Chair

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced Monday that the global leader of its labor and employment practice was unanimously elected as the firm's next chair to take over for Jami McKeon, who will retire at the end of the year.

  • March 20, 2026

    5th Circ. Wipes Out FTC's TurboTax 'Deceptive' Ad Ruling

    The Fifth Circuit on Friday vacated the Federal Trade Commission's cease-and-desist order imposed on Intuit Inc. for its TurboTax advertising that regulators say duped customers into thinking they could file their tax returns for free, saying the agency's in-house decision is unconstitutional, and the dispute must go to federal court.

  • March 20, 2026

    CytoDyn Settles Investor Suit With $500K, 49M Shares

    Biotechnology firm CytoDyn has agreed to dole out 49 million shares of common stock and pay $500,000 to end investors' proposed class action accusing the company of overstating the likelihood that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would approve a drug it claimed could treat HIV and COVID-19.

Expert Analysis

  • Notable Q3 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    The third quarter of 2025 was another eventful quarter for total loss valuation class actions, with a new circuit split developing courtesy of the Sixth Circuit, while insurers continued to see negative results in cost-of-insurance class actions, says Kevin Zimmerman at BakerHostetler.

  • Series

    Mindfulness Meditation Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Mindful meditation enables me to drop the ego, and in helping me to keep sight of what’s important, permits me to learn from the other side and become a reliable counselor, says Roy Wyman at Bass Berry.

  • AI Litigation Tools Can Enhance Case Assessment, Strategy

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    Civil litigators can use artificial intelligence tools to strengthen case assessment and aid in early strategy development, as long as they address the risks and ethical considerations that accompany these uses, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Attys Beware: Generative AI Can Also Hallucinate Metadata

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    In addition to the well-known problem of AI-generated hallucinations in legal documents, AI tools can also hallucinate metadata — threatening the integrity of discovery, the reliability of evidence and the ability to definitively identify the provenance of electronic documents, say attorneys at Law & Forensics.

  • How 9th Circ. Ruling Deepens SEC Disgorgement Circuit Split

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Sripetch creates opposing disgorgement rules in the two circuits where the SEC brings a large proportion of enforcement actions — the Second and Ninth — and increases the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will step in, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • When Atty Ethics Violations Give Rise To Causes Of Action

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    Though the Model Rules of Professional Conduct make clear that a violation of the rules does not automatically create a cause of action, attorneys should beware of a few scenarios in which they could face lawsuits for ethical lapses, says Brian Faughnan at Faughnan Law.

  • Justices' LabCorp Punt Leaves Deeper Class Cert. Circuit Split

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    In its ruling in LabCorp v. Davis, the U.S. Supreme Court left unresolved a standing-related class certification issue that has plagued class action jurisprudence for years — and subsequent conflicting decisions among federal circuit courts have left district courts and litigants struggling with conflicting and uncertain standards, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Lessons From Del. Chancery Court's New Activision Decision

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    The Delaware Court of Chancery's recent decision in AP-Fonden v. Activision Blizzard, declining to dismiss certain fiduciary duty claims at the pleading stage, offers takeaways for boards considering a sale, including the importance of playing an active role in the merger process and documenting key board materials, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • Opinion

    Courts Must Continue Protecting Plaintiffs In Mass Arbitration

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    In recent years, many companies have imposed onerous protocols that function to frustrate plaintiffs' ability to seek justice through mass arbitration, but a series of welcome court decisions in recent months indicate that the pendulum might be swinging back toward plaintiffs, say Raphael Janove and Sasha Jones at Janove Law.

  • Series

    Practicing Stoicism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Practicing Stoicism, by applying reason to ignore my emotions and govern my decisions, has enabled me to approach challenging situations in a structured way, ultimately providing advice singularly devoted to a client's interest, says John Baranello at Moses & Singer.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Texas, One Year In

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    A year after the Texas Business Court's first decision, it's clear that Texas didn't just copy Delaware and instead built something uniquely its own, combining specialization with constitutional accountability and creating a model that looks forward without losing touch with the state's democratic and statutory roots, says Chris Bankler at Jackson Walker.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Educating Your Community

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    Nearly two decades prosecuting scammers and elder fraud taught me that proactively educating the public about the risks they face and the rights they possess is essential to building trust within our communities, empowering otherwise vulnerable citizens and preventing wrongdoers from gaining a foothold, says Roger Handberg at GrayRobinson.

  • How A 9th Circ. False Ad Ruling Could Shift Class Certification

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    The Ninth Circuit's July decision in Noohi v. Johnson & Johnson, holding that unexecuted damages models may suffice for purposes of class certification, has the potential to create judicial inefficiencies and crippling uncertainties for class action defendants, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • 5 Crisis Lawyering Skills For An Age Of Uncertainty

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    As attorneys increasingly face unprecedented and pervasive situations — from prosecutions of law enforcement officials to executive orders targeting law firms — they must develop several essential competencies of effective crisis lawyering, says Ray Brescia at Albany Law School.

  • Insights From Recent Cases On Navigating Snap Removal

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    Snap removal, which allows defendants to transfer state court cases to federal court before a forum defendant is properly joined and served, is viewed differently across federal circuits — but keys to making it work can be drawn from recent decisions critiquing the practice, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

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