Washington's attorney general has accused the sheriff of a rural county of violating a state law that restricts local police agencies from assisting in the enforcement of federal immigration law, saying the sheriff is bolstering President Donald Trump's deportation policies after initially signaling his office would work to comply with state law.
Law360
Washington
TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Wash. AG Says Sheriff Is Illegally Aiding Feds On Immigration

By Greg Lamm

Washington's attorney general has accused the sheriff of a rural county of violating a state law that restricts local police agencies from assisting in the enforcement of federal immigration law, saying the sheriff is bolstering President Donald Trump's deportation policies after initially signaling his office would work to comply with state law.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Hagens Berman Comms With Ghosting Client Kept Privileged

By Ryan Boysen

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP doesn't have to turn over texts and emails with a client who disappeared from a putative class action against Apple and Amazon, a Washington federal judge has ruled, despite the tech giants' accusations that the firm lied about those communications.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

National Lawyers Guild Slams Trump's Perkins Coie Order

By Rachel Riley

The Seattle Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild denounced President Donald Trump's recent executive order revoking Perkins Coie LLP's security clearances, saying on Monday the decision "exemplifies his complete disregard for the rule of law and his contempt for core American democratic values."

Statement attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Trump Tells 9th Circ. To Undo Birthright Citizenship Injunction

By Madeline Lyskawa

President Donald Trump urged the Ninth Circuit to undo a Washington federal court's injunction on his executive order limiting birthright citizenship, saying children born to noncitizens in the United States do not fall within the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Trump Says Refugee Groups Can't Challenge Axed Contracts

By Madeline Lyskawa

The Trump administration urged a Washington federal judge to reject resettlement agencies' challenge to its termination of all cooperative agreements with resettlement agencies, saying the federal government has the legal authority to do so without notice if its priorities change.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DOJ Defends Musk's Influence Against States' Challenge

By Ali Sullivan

The U.S. Department of Justice is defending Elon Musk's influence in the federal government against a constitutional challenge brought by 14 states, telling D.C. federal court that the "special government employee" does not occupy an official office that would be subject to the Constitution's appointments clause.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

LITIGATION

Amazon Worker Can't Seal Military Leave Settlement

By Irene Spezzamonte

A worker who settled his suit accusing Amazon of not promoting him because of his military service can't file the deal under seal, according to a Washington federal judge's Monday ruling — which also said the agreement doesn't need to hit the docket.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Starbucks Faces Suit Over Fatal Patio Crash After Panel Flip

By Rachel Riley

Starbucks owed a duty of reasonable care to a patron who was struck by a rogue pickup truck while sitting on the patio of a Salt Lake City area store, the Utah Court of Appeals has ruled, reviving her family's lawsuit against the Seattle-based coffee company.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Insurer May Be Liable For Coverage Of School Abuse Suits

By Elizabeth Daley

A Washington federal judge said an insurer may still be liable for covering underlying claims of physical and sexual abuse against staff at a boarding school for troubled youth on the state's Cypress Island, because one policy year unlike others was missing an endorsement requiring connection to a particular location.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ayahuasca Church Says DEA Violated Religious Use Contract

By Sam Reisman

A New Mexico-based church whose practice involves a controlled substance has brought a federal lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration, alleging the agency sat on the group's application to export the sacrament to sister churches for close to seven years.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NINTH CIRCUIT

Tribe Says BNSF Can't Derail $400M Trespass Judgment

By Greg Lamm

A Washington tribe is urging the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court's finding that BNSF Railway Co. must pay nearly $400 million for years of illegally running oil cars across tribal territory, saying the railroad's claim that it strips away lawfully earned profits "makes little sense."

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

DOJ Wants In On Invisalign Monopoly Arguments At 9th Circ.

By Nadia Dreid

The U.S. Department of Justice wants to be there when orthodontists and consumers who purchased clear teeth aligners face off with the company behind Invisalign at the Ninth Circuit next month, so it can tell the appellate judges where the lower court went wrong in killing their monopoly suits.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DEALS

Paul Weiss, Fenwick Build Rocket's $1.75B Redfin Buy

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Detroit-based real estate-focused fintech platform Rocket Cos., advised by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, on Monday announced that it has agreed to buy Fenwick & West LLP-led digital real estate brokerage Redfin in a $1.75 billion all-stock deal.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

LEGAL INDUSTRY

GOP Sens. Escalate Fight With ABA Over 'Leftist' Statements

By Courtney Bublé

A group of Senate Republicans are once again going after the American Bar Association, which they claim has become a "leftist" organization, and announced Monday they will disregard ABA ratings on judicial nominees and encouraged the Trump administration and their colleagues to do the same.

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Paul Hastings Reelects Chair, Managing Partner To 2nd Terms

By Tracey Read

Paul Hastings LLP Chair Frank Lopez and Managing Partner Sherrese Smith have been reelected to their second three-year terms, the firm said Monday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Judge Who Shot Wife Gets Mistrial As Jury Hangs On Murder

By Gina Kim

A California judge declared a mistrial Monday in the murder trial of Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, who shot and killed his wife in their Anaheim Hills home in 2023, after jurors said they remained at an impasse over whether he was guilty of second-degree murder.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

SEC Leaves Meme Coin Fraud For Other Cops To Chase

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff's decision to say that so-called meme coins are beyond the agency's purview is a welcome change from past practices, experts say, but the devil is in the details when it comes to policing fraud and helping consumers recover when projects go bust.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Del. Bar Panel OKs Corp. Law Bill To Curb Class Suits, Fees

By Jeff Montgomery

A key panel of the Delaware's State Bar Association overwhelmingly approved on Monday a pending bill to put new constraints on corporate stockholder lawsuits, over objections that the measure will snuff out shareholder protections from conflicted boards and corporation controllers.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

High Court Will Review Colo.'s Conversion Therapy Ban

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it will review a challenge to Colorado's ban on licensed therapists providing conversion therapy to transgender minors, in a case that asks whether the state's law is a permissible regulation of professional conduct or an unconstitutional restriction of speech.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

2 Firms Sued After Cyber Thief Steals $442K From Estate

By Ryan Harroff

Law firms SutterWilliams LLC and Allender & Allender PA were hit with a negligence and malpractice suit after a cybercriminal allegedly used spoofed email accounts to trick an attorney at the latter firm into handing over $442,600 from the sale of a late Pennsylvania sheriff's deputy's house in Florida.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Paul Hastings Adds Kirkland Atty As Global M&A Co-Chair

By Tracey Read

Paul Hastings LLP has hired a third global co-chair for its mergers and acquisitions practice who was one of the youngest M&A partners in the world to have announced well over $1 trillion in deals, the firm said Monday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

J. Crew Wins Confirmation Of Ex-GC's Arbitration Loss

By Lauren Berg

A New York federal judge confirmed an arbitrator's ruling Monday that found J. Crew hadn't fired its former legal chief, Maria DiLorenzo, in retaliation for her complaints about colleagues' discriminatory comments about her hearing loss.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Clerks May Seek Political Jobs On 'Case-By-Case Basis'

By Emily Sawicki

Individual federal judges may determine whether their clerks may seek political posts while employed by the judiciary, the Judicial Conference of the United States' Committee on Codes of Conduct now recommends, months after issuing guidance advising clerks to hold off seeking such roles until their clerkships end.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Promo that reads 2025 AI Survey Promo that reads 2024 Practice Groups of the Year

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

A&O Shearman

Allender & Allender

Ard Law Group

Arete Law Group

Berger Montague

Bernstein Burkley

Bernstein Litowitz

Clifford Chance

Clyde & Co

Covington & Burling

Cravath Swaine

Davis Wright Tremaine

Fenwick & West

Forsberg & Umlauf

Friedman Rubin

Gibson Dunn

HKM Employment Attorneys

Hagens Berman

Hunton Andrews

K&L Gates

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Lewis Brisbois

Littler Mendelson

MacDonald Hoague

Miller Nash LLP

Orrick Herrington

Pacifica Law Group

Paul Hastings

Paul Weiss

Pearman Law Firm

Perkins Coie

Redgrave LLP

Sidley Austin

Simon & Simon PC

Smart Schofield

Stonebarger Law

Tousley Brain

Weil Gotshal

Wigdor LLP

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AbbVie Inc.

Align Technology Inc.

Alliance Defending Freedom

Amazon.com Inc.

Amcor PLC

American Bar Association

Apple Inc.

BNSF Railway Co.

Church World Service Inc.

Constellation Brands Inc.

Human Rights Campaign

International Refugee Assistance Project

J. Crew Group Inc.

Kellanova Co.

Mars Inc.

Meta Platforms Inc.

Michaels Stores Inc.

Rocket Cos.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Starbucks Corp.

Tesla Inc.

Verizon Communications Inc.

Wells Fargo & Co.

Wynn Resorts Ltd.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Arizona Attorney General's Office

Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Executive Office of the President

Federal Trade Commission

Illinois Attorney General's Office

Judicial Conference of the United States

Oregon Department of Justice

Swinomish Indian Tribal Community

U.S. Agency for International Development

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

U.S. Marine Corps

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

Washington Attorney General's Office