Washington

  • September 17, 2026

    Oil Giants, Estate Agree To End Heat Wave Death Claims

    The daughter of a Washington woman who died in a 2021 heat wave has agreed to drop claims against oil giants Chevron, Shell, BP and Phillips 66, according to motions filed Tuesday and Wednesday in King County Superior Court.

  • September 17, 2026

    Wash. High Court Strikes Down Natural Gas Voter Initiative

    The Washington State Supreme Court has invalidated a voter-approved initiative barring local governments and building code officials from adopting rules to discourage natural gas use, ruling in a 6-3 decision Thursday that it violates a provision of the state constitution limiting legislative measures to a single subject.

  • September 17, 2026

    T-Mobile Can't Challenge Ruling That It Broke Wash. Data Law

    A Washington state judge said he will not reconsider his finding that T-Mobile committed more than 722,000 violations of a state data breach notification law.

  • September 17, 2026

    Amway To Pay $225M To End Deceptive Marketing Claims

    The Federal Trade Commission and the State of Washington have reached a $225 million settlement with health and beauty company Amway and two of its affiliates to resolve allegations that they engaged in unfair and deceptive multilevel marketing tactics in which independent business owners and their recruits purchased products for "reasons other than genuine demand for them in a near-futile effort to make money while faking their customer sales."

  • September 17, 2026

    Ore. Judge Denies HHS' Attempt To Amend Gender Care Order

    An Oregon federal judge on Thursday rejected the Trump administration's bid to narrow an earlier order that voided a policy declaration central to the government's crackdown on gender-affirming care for minors.

  • September 17, 2026

    'Bad Middle School Art' Tests Penn State's Counterfeit Bid

    A Third Circuit panel appeared reluctant Thursday to treat all of Vintage Brand's retro Penn State merchandise as counterfeit, even as the judges expressed skepticism about the print-on-demand retailer's broader bid to overturn a jury verdict finding that its unlicensed use of university marks infringed Penn State's trademarks.

  • September 17, 2026

    Samsung Range Caused Wash. House Fire, Insurer Says

    An insurer said it is entitled to recoup costs paid in connection with a Washington policyholder's house fire because the blaze was caused by a defective electric range manufactured by Samsung, according to a suit removed to federal court.

  • September 17, 2026

    Auto Lender OKs $709.5M Multistate Deal Over Subprime Loans

    The subprime auto lender Credit Acceptance Corp. has agreed to provide $709.5 million in cash and debt relief as part of a 40-state settlement to resolve allegations that it originated loans to borrowers who could not afford them, attorneys general announced Thursday.

  • September 17, 2026

    1st Circ. Lets HUD Shift $1.3B In Homelessness Aid

    A First Circuit panel said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development may redirect $1.3 billion in homelessness funding from programs that focus on permanent housing to those supporting temporary shelter and assistance, finding the Trump administration likely was not required to go through a notice-and-comment procedure.

  • September 16, 2026

    Express Scripts Seeks To Exit AIDS Group's Drug Rate Suit

    Express Scripts called on a Washington federal judge to toss a lawsuit accusing it of using its market power to bully the AIDS Healthcare Foundation into accepting lower reimbursement rates for life-saving drugs, contending Tuesday that the case rehashes allegations a Missouri federal court has already rejected twice.

  • September 16, 2026

    WSU Says It Had No Duty To Stop Idaho Murders

    Washington State University urged a federal judge Tuesday to dismiss a lawsuit from families of four University of Idaho students killed by a WSU teaching assistant, arguing that the university had no obligation to stop Bryan Kohberger from committing the murders while he was off duty and across state lines.

  • September 16, 2026

    Portions Of DC Expert Report Nixed In Amazon Antitrust Case

    A D.C. court has granted Amazon's request to strike parts of an expert report supporting the district's antitrust lawsuit against the e-commerce giant.

  • September 16, 2026

    Conservation Group Sues To Block Road Through Wash. River

    A conservation group has sued the National Park Service over its approval of a plan to construct part of a temporary road within Washington's Stehekin River, arguing the project would disrupt salmon spawning and alter a river eligible for protection under the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

  • September 16, 2026

    9th Circ. Greenlights Blocking Kalshi Contracts On Tribal Land

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday reversed an order denying California tribes' request for a preliminary injunction seeking to block Kalshi and Robinhood from offering sports-event contracts on tribal lands, finding the tribes will likely win their Indian Gaming Regulatory Act claims, and "this is the 'stuff' of sports betting."

  • September 16, 2026

    Kroger Faces Skepticism In Bid To Slash Wash. AG's Fee Win

    A Washington appellate judge expressed skepticism Wednesday at Kroger's bid to dismiss or reduce the state's $28.4 million fee award for successfully challenging the proposed merger with Albertsons, saying Kroger doesn't know how the Washington State Attorney General's Office split the work with the lead law firm that handled the bench trial.

  • September 16, 2026

    Nike Worker Seeks Pay Records In Proposed Class Wage Suit

    A Nike retail worker has asked a Washington federal court to order the company to produce pay and scheduling records for its entire workforce before a class certification fight, arguing Nike has no basis to withhold the data and that a court-filed privacy agreement adequately protects workers' personal information.

  • September 16, 2026

    1st Circ. Hints Trump Admin Sought To Skirt Review Of Cuts

    The First Circuit on Wednesday repeatedly suggested that the Trump administration had sought to evade court review by intentionally failing to issue written guidance before it began shuttering federal programs targeted by the president in an executive order last year.

  • September 16, 2026

    9th Circ. Revives Bad Faith Claim In Title Insurance Row

    A split Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday partially reinstated Washington state property owners' suit accusing an insurer of bad faith by refusing to defend them and representing their opposing neighbors in an easement dispute, saying the lower court improperly relied on a case that didn't address bad faith.

  • September 16, 2026

    Consumer Groups Ask States To Probe Zillow, Housing Market

    More than a dozen consumer advocacy groups urged state authorities Wednesday to work together to probe Zillow and Redfin's compliance with an August deal to end a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, and to investigate other practices blamed for driving up housing costs such as private "pocket" listings by broker Compass Inc.

  • September 16, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs OpenAI, Microsoft Win Over Source Code Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a case brought by a group of anonymous programmers who accused OpenAI and Microsoft of taking source code from public repositories on GitHub, ruling that the programmers had not sufficiently put the court on notice that they wished to pursue a theory related to artificial intelligence inputs.

  • September 16, 2026

    9th Circ. Revives Doctor's Medicare Sanctions Challenge

    A Ninth Circuit panel revived a doctor's constitutional due process challenge to a 10-year bar the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services imposed on his Medicare billing privileges, finding a district court wrongly concluded he had to first exhaust his administrative remedies.

  • September 16, 2026

    80 Hospitals End Suit Over Now Vacated HHS Payment Rule

    A group of 80 hospitals has voluntarily ended a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over denied Medicare payment appeals after a D.C. federal court vacated a 2023 rule affecting how those payments were calculated.

  • September 16, 2026

    Footwear Co. Not Covered In Email Class Fight, Insurers Say

    Three Nationwide units said they owe no coverage to a footwear company accused of violating Washington state law by sending misleading email advertisements, telling a Washington federal court that coverage is barred by an exclusion for the distribution of material in violation of law.

  • September 16, 2026

    Apple Backs Its $132K Fee Ask Over 'Bad Faith' Subpoenas

    Apple has urged a California federal magistrate judge to grant its $132,700 attorney fee request as a sanction against plaintiff consumers' lead lawyer in antitrust litigation claiming Google muscles out rival search engines, but said Apple's counsel doesn't want to disclose their "highly and competitively sensitive" negotiated legal rates.

  • September 16, 2026

    McGuireWoods Lands 2 Former Boeing Attys In Seattle

    Two former senior product liability litigators for Boeing have returned to private practice, landing at McGuireWoods LLP, the firm said Wednesday.

Expert Analysis

  • Prepping For White House's Proposed AI Framework

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    The artificial intelligence legislative framework issued by the White House last month reframes the policy landscape, creating a number of near-term developments for companies to track as congressional committees attempt to convert the framework into legislative text, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Opinion

    Apple Discovery Fight Could Revive DOJ's Antitrust Appetite

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    Winning discovery disputes in the ongoing federal antitrust litigation over Apple’s app store practices is a huge opportunity for the Justice Department to return to its once-vigorous pursuit of product tying by tech monopolies, catch up with foreign competition regulators and establish clear standards for digital markets, says Ediberto Roman at Florida International University.

  • Opinion

    State Bars Need To Get Specific About AI Confidentiality

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    Lawyers need to put actual client information into artificial intelligence tools to get their full value, but they cannot confidently do so until state bars offer clear, formal authority on which plan tiers of the three most popular generative AI tools are safe to use when sharing specific client details, says attorney Nick Berk.

  • What Justices' Review Of Guam Case Will Mean For Permitting

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    In U.S. Department of the Air Force v. Prutehi Guahan, the U.S. Supreme Court will address whether a federal agency's permit application is a final decision that courts can review — a question whose answer could reshape the timing and strategy of environmental litigation across the federal permitting landscape, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Restraint Anchors Constitutional Order

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    Contrasting opinions in two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings — Trump v. CASA and Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections — demonstrate how the judiciary’s constitutionally entrusted role can easily be preserved or disrupted, and invite renewed attention to the enduring importance of judicial restraint, says Ninth Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace.

  • Series

    Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Telehealth Suit May Redraw Rules For Physician Classification

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    A new class action in California federal court, Cioppettini v. Mochi Medical, alleging a telehealth company misclassified providers as independent contractors, suggests that traditional markers of physician independence may not apply to telehealth, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Opinion

    Wash. Amazon Ruling Should Reshape Suicide Liability

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    The Washington Supreme Court's reinstatement of negligence claims in Scott v. Amazon.com, brought by the families of people who died by suicide after purchasing chemicals online, signals a reckoning for digital commerce and the rejection of the defense that online marketplaces are merely passive technology platforms, says Donald Fountain at Clark Fountain.

  • Pivotal 6th Circ. Ruling Threatens Decades Of NLRB Decisions

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    The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Brown-Forman v. National Labor Relations Board fundamentally challenged the NLRB's long-standing practice of establishing policies through adjudication rather than formal rulemaking, giving employers and unions a new avenue to procedurally attack the vast majority of its rules, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Pension Case Offers Entertainment Work Exception Insights

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    A recent Ninth Circuit decision clarified that any amount of entertainment work can satisfy the entertainment industry exception under the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act, reinforcing that statutory language, rather than evolving business models, dictates withdrawal liability outcomes, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • Justices' Ruling Stresses Quick Action Against Absconders

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent holding in Rico v. U.S. that a supervised release term is not automatically extended when a defendant absconds, probation officers and prosecutors risk being unable to address later violations if they don't act promptly to secure warrants, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • How Cos. Can Navigate The Patchwork Of AI Safety Bills

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    In the first few months of 2026, state and federal lawmakers introduced hundreds of bills to address the perceived safety risks of artificial intelligence, so companies should assess whether existing or planned services could be scoped into AI safety legislation across jurisdictions, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • Series

    Ultramarathons Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Completing a 100-mile ultramarathon was tougher, more humbling and more rewarding than I ever imagined, and the experience highlighted how long-distance running has sharpened my ability to adapt to the evolving nature of antitrust law and strengthened my resolve to handle demanding, unforeseen challenges, says Dan Oakes at Axinn.

  • 6th Circ. Can Extend Insurance Valuation Clarity Beyond Auto

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    In rehearing Clippinger v. State Farm, the Sixth Circuit can align itself with the recent drumbeat of other circuits rejecting class certification of auto total loss claims and set standards that apply to similar claims brought under homeowners and other types of insurance policies, say attorneys at Jackson Walker.

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