Washington

  • May 03, 2024

    Colo. Jury Hits Berkshire Unit With $7M Monopoly Verdict

    A Colorado federal jury on Friday awarded the rival of a Berkshire Hathaway-owned construction supplier $6.7 million for the larger company's monopolistic practices, hours after a judge scolded the Berkshire company's lawyer because he "crossed a line" during closings.

  • May 03, 2024

    Robbins Geller Attys To Take Stand In $8M Sanctions Dispute

    A petroleum refiner will put current and former Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys on the stand May 7 in an extraordinary evidentiary hearing testing what the plaintiffs' lawyers knew about an analyst's now-discredited findings as they pursued since-nixed price-fixing claims.

  • May 02, 2024

    DaVita Says Nurses Trying Go Around Wage Rulings

    Nationwide kidney care service provider DaVita Inc. has urged a Colorado federal judge to reject a bid by nurses and technicians to merge their wage class action with another suit, arguing Wednesday the plaintiffs are seeking to "circumvent" earlier rulings limiting the case's reach.

  • May 02, 2024

    Attys Due For Spam Suit Sanction, But Not $750K, Judges Say

    Class counsel's misconduct in helping instigate a spam text suit against stock-trading app Robinhood Financial LLC warranted sanctions, a Washington state appeals court panel ruled Thursday, but the judges said the $750,000 penalty went over the top in deterring the bad behavior.

  • May 02, 2024

    House Seeks FTC Info On Scuttled Amazon-IRobot Deal

    The Republican-controlled House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is launching an investigation into the Federal Trade Commission's purported efforts to block Amazon's purchase of iRobot, according to a Wednesday letter from Rep. James Comer, R-Ky.

  • May 02, 2024

    Microsoft, Activision Seek Del. Court Patch For $68.7B Sale

    Microsoft Corp. and Activision Blizzard petitioned Delaware's Court of Chancery on Thursday for an order validating Activision's already closed but officially "defective" $68.7 billion sale agreement, arguing that the court pointed the two companies to a "solution for missteps in Delaware's General Corporation Law.

  • May 02, 2024

    9th Circ. Backs Game Developer's Win In Sex Harassment Suit

    The Ninth Circuit declined Thursday to reinstate a lawsuit a former employee brought against a video game developer accusing it of subjecting him to lewd jokes and firing him after he complained, saying a lower court didn't err by admitting certain evidence at trial.

  • May 02, 2024

    USAA Wrongly Denied Fire Damage Claim, Wash. Couple Says

    A Washington couple accused their homeowners insurer of unreasonably denying their fire damage claim despite their timely response to all of the insurer's claim inquiries and requests, further accusing the insurer of violating Washington's Consumer Protection Act and Insurance Fair Conduct Act.

  • May 01, 2024

    Monsanto Gets $185 Million Wash. PCB Verdict Overturned

    A Washington state appeals court sided with Monsanto on Wednesday, undoing a $185 million jury verdict for three teachers who claimed they were sickened by PCBs at a Washington school site and ruling the case could be limited by the Evergreen state's 12-year statute of repose for product liability claims.

  • May 01, 2024

    NLRB Dings Amazon CEO Over 'Better Off Not' Unionizing Talk

    Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated federal labor law by making public predictions that workers looking to unionize would be "better off not doing so," a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Wednesday, but determined Jassy's comments that unionization would change workers' relationship with the company were lawful.

  • May 01, 2024

    NJ, NY Law Firms Dominate Class Action Filings Since 2021

    Class actions have been steadily increasing over the past decade, with two firms from New Jersey and New York filing the most suits over the past three years, according to a new Lex Machina report surveying the class action field.

  • May 01, 2024

    Colorado Asks Judge To Review New Kroger Sales At Trial

    Kroger can't throw a new divestiture plan on the table two months before discovery closes and then ask the court to consider it when deciding whether to hand down a preliminary injunction blocking its $25 billion union with Albertsons from moving forward, the state of Colorado says.

  • May 01, 2024

    Chancery Nixes Amazon.com Investor's Antitrust Docs Probe

    An Amazon.com stockholder on Wednesday lost a Delaware Court of Chancery suit seeking court-ordered access to company records to probe claims that the online retailing giant engages in anti-competitive practices, with a court magistrate finding the evidence insufficient to justify the demand.

  • May 01, 2024

    Judges Say Homeowners' Fight Over Airport Not Grounded Yet

    A Washington couple violated their homeowners' association covenants by running a wing-walking flight school out of their home, but it is unclear if they ran afoul of community rules by using an association-owned airstrip for their business, according to a state appeals court opinion reversing a restriction on the couple's use of the airstrip.

  • May 01, 2024

    DOL Announces $6.5M For Seasonal Farmworker Housing

    The U.S. Department of Labor on Wednesday said it will make $6.5 million in grants available to organizations working to improve housing conditions for seasonal and migrant farmworkers and their dependents.

  • May 01, 2024

    9th Circ. Slams Door On Kids' Climate Case

    The Ninth Circuit ordered an Oregon federal judge Wednesday to immediately dismiss a closely watched suit by young adults against the federal government over the effects of climate change, saying its earlier order to end the matter could not be brushed off.

  • May 01, 2024

    53 Govs. Want Say In Moving Nat'l Guard Staff To Space Force

    The governors of 48 states and several U.S. territories warned the U.S. Department of Defense that allowing hundreds of Air National Guard personnel to be transferred to the U.S. Space Force without the governors' approval undermines their authority over their states' military readiness.

  • May 01, 2024

    Microsoft Details How It Addresses AI Risks In New Report

    Microsoft Corp., the leading investor in ChatGPT creator OpenAI, detailed Wednesday in its first-ever artificial intelligence transparency report how the tech giant is working to keep its ballooning stable of AI tools from causing harm in the U.S. and abroad.

  • May 01, 2024

    Vape Wholesaler Can't Escape Suit Over Exploding Battery

    A Washington federal judge has refused to let e-cigarette wholesaler Vapor Beast LLC out of a suit by a man alleging he was injured by an exploding lithium-ion battery, saying there isn't enough evidence for the court to determine whether his claims were filed on time.

  • April 30, 2024

    TracFone Must Pay Wash. City's Utility Tax

    Prepaid phone businesses are utilities and can be taxed as such under Washington state law, according to a state appeals court that had been posed such a question as part of a dispute between TracFone and a Seattle suburb.

  • April 30, 2024

    Wash. Fights GEO's Bid For Final End To ICE Detention Law

    The state of Washington pushed back against GEO Group's effort to scrap its law allowing surprise inspections and raising hygiene standards at immigration detention facilities, saying the private prison operator is already partly shielded from enforcement of the law while a Washington federal court considers its constitutional challenge.

  • April 30, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Calif. Bar Didn't Violate Student's Fed. Rights

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the dismissal of an octogenarian law school student's claims that the State Bar of California violated his 14th Amendment protected rights when it refused to excuse his delay in taking a first-year exam, saying the California Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over admission matters.

  • April 30, 2024

    Watchdog Says USA Swimming Indemnity Suit Has No Basis

    A nonprofit watchdog overseeing reports of sexual abuse in U.S. sports has urged a Colorado state judge to toss an indemnification suit by USA Swimming, claiming there is no contract between them, much less one requiring the watchdog to pay for separate litigation in Washington state.

  • April 30, 2024

    Microsoft Says Ex-Worker Made 'Trojan Horse' Patent Claims

    Microsoft accused an ex-employee of staging a "Trojan horse" in a breach of contract case to get patent damages otherwise not allowed in state court, urging a Washington federal judge to keep control of the case over Xbox console patents.

  • April 30, 2024

    7th Circ. Backs Costco's Win In Gas Price-Matching Feud

    The Seventh Circuit on Tuesday upheld Costco's victory against a dozen Wisconsin gas stations that claimed the warehouse giant sold regular unleaded fuel below a statutory minimum markup price that allegedly caused a decline in revenue, finding no evidence showing that Costco's pricing practices caused the stations a single lost sale.

Expert Analysis

  • When Courts Engage In Fact-Finding At The Pleading Stage

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    It remains to be seen whether the Ninth Circuit's pleading-stage factual determination in a securities class action against Nvidia was sui generis or part of a trend, but the court has created a template for district courts to follow, says Jared Kopel at Alto Litigation.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • How Legal Teams Can Prep For Life Sciences' Tech Revolution

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    The life sciences and health care industries are uniquely positioned to take advantage of new efficiencies created by cloud computing and generative artificial intelligence, but the sensitivity of their data also demands careful navigation of an expanding legislative and regulatory landscape, say Kristi Gedid, Zack Laplante and Lisa LaMotta at Ernst & Young.

  • Harvard's Broker Fight Shows Active Risk Management Is Key

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    Harvard University’s recently filed suit against its insurance broker for alleged malpractice in handling the Students for Fair Admissions claim illustrates that risk management requires the concerted effort of policyholders, brokers and insurers to protect against disastrous losses, say William McMichael and David Klein at Pillsbury.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • Beware Privacy Risks In Training AI Models With Health Data

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    Because data used to train artificial intelligence models may be protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or other regulations, users of these models should conduct proper diligence to avoid costly compliance failures, say Neha Matta and Barbara Bennett at Frost Brown.

  • Opinion

    Courts Shouldn't Credit Allegations From Short-Seller Reports

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    Securities class actions against public companies can extend for years and lead to significant settlements, so courts should not allow such cases with allegations wholly reliant on reports by short-sellers, who have an economic interest in seeing a company's stock price decline, to proceed past the motion to dismiss stage, says Richard Zelichov at DLA Piper.

  • Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence

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    Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes

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    Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.

  • Pro Bono Work Is Powerful Self-Help For Attorneys

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    Oct. 22-28 is Pro Bono Week, serving as a useful reminder that offering free legal help to the public can help attorneys expand their legal toolbox, forge community relationships and create human connections, despite the challenges of this kind of work, says Orlando Lopez at Culhane Meadows.

  • State Regs Sow Discord Between Cannabis, Hemp Industries

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    Connecticut, Maryland and Washington are the latest states choosing to require intoxicating hemp products to comply with the states' recreational marijuana laws, resulting in a widening rift between cannabis and hemp as Congress works on crafting new hemp legislation within the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill, say attorneys at Wilson Elser.

  • Series

    Playing In A Rock Cover Band Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing in a classic rock cover band has driven me to hone several skills — including focus, organization and networking — that have benefited my professional development, demonstrating that taking time to follow your muse outside of work can be a boon to your career, says Michael Gambro at Cadwalader.

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