Washington

  • September 25, 2026

    PTAB Invalidates Challenged Claims In Breast Pump Patent

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board on Friday ruled that all claims Shenzhen Root Technology Co. Ltd. challenged in a Willow Blossom wearable breast pump patent are invalid on numerous grounds.

  • September 25, 2026

    9th Circ. OKs Class Cert. In Classmates.com Name Use Case

    The Ninth Circuit has approved a lower court's certification of a class of Californians suing over their names appearing in the yearbooks platform Classmates.com, rejecting a number of challenges from the website's operator, including that the lead plaintiff couldn't adequately represent the class.

  • September 25, 2026

    Detractors Tell Court Paramount Deal Fails To Fix Concerns

    Civil rights and public interest groups have told a California federal court the settlement ending a challenge of Paramount Skydance's purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery fails to address the concerns state enforcers raised in the first place.

  • September 25, 2026

    Telecom Says 2023 Discovery Bars Wash. Tribe's Burial Claims

    A telecommunications company has argued the clock ran out last year on the Lummi Nation's claims of Washington Indian Graves and Records Act violations, and asked a Washington federal judge to dismiss the tribe's suit.

  • September 25, 2026

    Apple Hit With Garnishment Order For $1.69M Wage Judgment

    Apple was ordered Friday by a North Carolina federal judge to cease contract payments to an affiliated repair company that has allegedly failed to pony up a $1.69 million judgment in a wage and hour class action.

  • September 25, 2026

    UDR Settles Wash. AG's Claims Of Illegal Rent Hikes

    Multifamily real estate investment trust UDR Inc. will pay more than $1.6 million in order to settle a suit filed by the Washington State Office of the Attorney General, which accused the REIT in state court of illegally hiking rents on its tenants.

  • September 24, 2026

    Expedia Hit With Smoke Detector Suit Over Deadly VRBO Fire

    A Massachusetts family has accused Expedia of negligently listing VRBO vacation rental properties without smoke detectors after an apartment they booked in the Dominican Republic caught fire, leading to the deaths of four family members, according to a Washington state court lawsuit.

  • September 24, 2026

    Game Publishers Eye Doc Request In Valve Antitrust Case

    Video-game publishers accusing Valve Corp. in a federal antitrust lawsuit of manipulating arbitration pacts with gaming customers have questioned the gamers' bid for access to the publishers' purportedly protected materials as the gamers fight a separate case against the digital content company.

  • September 24, 2026

    Google, Ex-Engineer End Suit Over Pregnancy-Loss Firing

    Google LLC and a former software engineer who sued the company over allegations that she was wrongfully fired for taking time off following the unexpected loss of a pregnancy agreed to dismiss the worker's lawsuit with prejudice, according to a Western District of Washington filing in the case Wednesday.

  • September 24, 2026

    Paramount Judge Won't 'Rubber Stamp' States' Merger Deal

    A California federal judge questioned state enforcers Thursday about the details of their proposed settlement to resolve antitrust litigation challenging Paramount Skydance's planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, telling counsel, "The court isn't a rubber stamp," and "I've got questions, and I'm not the only one."

  • September 24, 2026

    Full 9th Circ. Asked To Revisit $2B Devas Arbitral Award

    An Indian state-owned aerospace company has urged the full Ninth Circuit to review a three-judge panel's unanimous decision to enforce a $2 billion arbitral award issued to a Bangalore-based satellite communications company, saying the decision raises important questions about the constitutional limits on jurisdiction of foreign disputes with no connection to the U.S.

  • September 24, 2026

    Grammarly Owner Sued Over 'Last Chance' Discount Emails

    The company behind Grammarly has been hit with a proposed class action in Washington state court alleging it sent marketing emails that falsely warned customers discounts were about to expire, then extended the sales or offered similar deals soon afterward.

  • September 24, 2026

    Nintendo Wins $4.5M Default Against Reddit Moderator Archbox

    An Arizona resident and Reddit moderator known as archbox must pay $4.5 million to Nintendo of America Inc. for allegedly making and distributing illegal copies of Nintendo Switch video games, according to a default judgment handed down Wednesday by a Washington federal judge.

  • September 24, 2026

    Parents Say Hospital Forced Them To Drive Home Dead Infant

    A Washington couple claims staff at Salem Hospital in Oregon left them with no choice but to drive their 8-month-old son's body back home to Seattle after he suddenly died during a medical emergency, according to a $10 million negligence lawsuit the family filed in Oregon state court.

  • September 24, 2026

    Labcorp Inks $2.3M Deal To Resolve Multistate Data Breach

    Labcorp will pay nearly $2.3 million and adopt data security changes under a multistate settlement resolving investigations into a 2019 breach at its former debt collection vendor, a group of state attorneys general announced Thursday.

  • September 24, 2026

    AGs Push Congress To Regulate AI But Not Preempt State Laws

    Nearly half the attorneys general in the United States implored Congress in a letter Thursday to "immediately" regulate the artificial intelligence industry and prohibit federal action from preempting state laws, telling U.S. House and Senate leaders that national security is at stake.

  • September 24, 2026

    YMCA Gets No Coverage In Child Sex Abuse Suit, Insurer Says

    Great American Insurance sued YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties in Washington federal court Wednesday, arguing it has no duty to defend it in an underlying child sexual abuse lawsuit and that the defendant exhausted one of the applicable policy limits for payment of other abuse claims against it.

  • September 24, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs Dual Deals Over Inaccessible LA Housing

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday found a whistleblower is not entitled to a portion of a $200 million settlement Los Angeles reached with federal officials to correct years of noncompliance with accessibility requirements in public housing after the plaintiff struck a separate deal in a fraud complaint over the city's conduct. 

  • September 24, 2026

    5 Circuit Splits To Watch At The High Court

    The U.S. Supreme Court has been deciding fewer and fewer cases over the past three decades, with its caseload reaching a historic low just last term. While attorneys believe several factors have contributed to that trend, they say one of the most consequential is the court's apparent declining interest in resolving circuit splits. 

  • September 24, 2026

    Wash. Winemaker's Spoilage Coverage Claim Capped At $40K

    A Washington winemaker cannot recover more than $40,000 in coverage for its loss of nearly 18,000 bottles of wine due to a faulty air conditioner, a federal court ruled, saying the winemaker's commercial property coverage limits recovery for spoilage caused by mechanical breakdown and temperature fluctuations.

  • September 24, 2026

    Insurer Ends Coverage Suit Over $20M Cable Damage Case

    Great American Insurance Co. has agreed to drop its lawsuit seeking a declaration that it does not have a duty to defend a Washington-based buoy installation company against claims over damages to an underwater electric cable that could cost more than $20 million to replace.

  • September 24, 2026

    9th Circ. Reinstates Vax Objector's Religious Bias Case

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday reopened a nurse's lawsuit alleging an Oregon hospital unlawfully put her on unpaid leave rather than accommodate her religious objection to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, faulting the trial court for overlooking a letter in which she explained why she wanted an exemption.

  • September 23, 2026

    Liquor Distributor's Insurer Fights Coverage Of Worker's Suit

    Employers Mutual Casualty Co. filed suit in Washington federal court Wednesday seeking an order declaring that the insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify policyholder American Northwest Distributors Inc. against an ex-worker's proposed wage-and-hour class action.

  • September 23, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs Delta Immunity Over In-Flight Restraint

    Airlines are broadly immune from civil litigation when they report to law enforcement a passenger behaving suspiciously, the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday, ending litigation by a passenger who secured a $7 million verdict against Delta Air Lines after a jury found he had not behaved suspiciously and that flight staff had caused him to be injured.

  • September 23, 2026

    Organ Network Says Kidney Race Bias Claims Can't Proceed

    The United Network for Organ Sharing is seeking to exit a proposed class action claiming it prolonged wait times for Black patients seeking kidney transplants by encouraging hospitals to use a flawed race-based adjustment when measuring kidney function, saying the network's policy was "silent" as to how such scores were calculated.

Expert Analysis

  • Attorneys Using AI May Have Ethical Duty To Redact Docs

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    The trajectory of legal ethics guidance in recent years strongly suggests that as redaction technology becomes more accessible, the failure to use it when uploading highly confidential materials into artificial intelligence tools will become increasingly difficult to defend as reasonable, say attorneys at Lewis Brisbois.

  • Minn. Ruling Expands Insureds' Right To Independent Counsel

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    If upheld on appeal, a recent decision by a Minnesota appellate court — Fabyanske Westra Hart & Thomson v. Western National Mutual Insurance — will give Minnesota policyholders a stronger basis to demand independent counsel when an insurer accepts a defense under a reservation of rights, say attorneys at Stoel Rives.

  • Retailers Must Navigate State Innocent-Seller Law Patchwork

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    States' innocent-seller statutes can shield nonmanufacturing retailers from product liability claims to varying degrees, and by building the evidentiary record strategically throughout discovery, companies can improve their chances of obtaining summary judgment — but it is essential to stay abreast of the rapidly evolving policy environment, say attorneys at Chamberlain Hrdlicka.

  • OpenAI Deal Highlights AI Hiring Risks In PERM Process

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent settlement of allegations that OpenAI discriminated against U.S. applicants for positions connected to the permanent labor certification process underscores that employers providing or using artificial intelligence must align their recruitment practices with their overlapping compliance obligations, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • State AI Safety Laws Raise New Liabilities For Healthcare Cos.

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    Healthcare and life science companies using third-party artificial intelligence tools should pay particular attention to the changing state-level legal landscape, where the rollout of multiple AI safety laws is introducing both new compliance obligations and potential consumer protection liabilities, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Series

    Juggling And Unicycling Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Because I juggle (sometimes with fire) and ride the unicycle, friends and family used to joke that I should join the circus, but I pursued the practice of law instead and learned that my hobbies benefit my profession in several important ways, says Morgan Eddy at Smith Currie.

  • How 'Swap' Fight Underpins Prediction Market Enforcement

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    As courts around the country grapple with whether, and under what circumstances, event contracts qualify as swaps, federal enforcement authority hangs in the balance, with implications for companies that need to manage compliance risks during this period of legal uncertainty, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • The State Of Prediction Market Litigation After 9th Circ. Ruling

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Kalshi v. Assad gives state regulators significant appellate backing to enforce state gaming laws over prediction markets, creating a direct split with the Third Circuit that will likely lead to Supreme Court review of the question, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Series

    Ballet Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of learning and performing ballet taught me that success — whether in dance or practicing law — comes only through hours of thorough preparation, boundless energy and relentless effort, says Sharon Katz-Pearlman at Greenberg Traurig.

  • 9th Circ. 'Bad Spaniels' Ruling Rewrites TM Dilution Playbook

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    The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling that each element of the Jack Daniel's packaging parodied by the Bad Spaniels dog toy must be independently assessed for fame narrows trademark owners' ability to use a flagship mark's halo effect to protect the entire brand from tarnishment, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • How Texas' Protein Powder Probe Reflects Prop 65's Influence

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    Texas' recently announced investigation into contaminants in protein powder illustrates how California's Proposition 65, with its hundreds of listed chemicals, safe harbor levels and consumer warnings, may have an influence on enforcement and regulation in other states, say attorneys at Buchalter.

  • What 9th Circ. Devas Ruling Means For AI Infrastructure Deals

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent confirmation of a $2 billion arbitration award in Devas Multimedia's arbitration against a state-owned commercial arm of India’s space agency creates a cross-border enforcement road map for disputes that are bound to arise from the current generation of artificial intelligence infrastructure deals, says Fernanda Merouco at Davis Wright.

  • 9th Circ. Wage Ruling Shows Arbitration Pacts Are Still Useful

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    After years of uncertainty for California employers, the Ninth Circuit’s recent Cocom v. ABM Aviation decision signals that workplace arbitration agreements remain a powerful and enforceable tool — if thoughtfully drafted and employment-focused, says Benjamin Runge at Thompson Coburn.

  • Series

    Taekwondo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Taekwondo has taught me to recognize when to fight for a position and when to focus on finding a solution, and that the best outcomes are often achieved by solving problems — all of which has improved my work as a bankruptcy lawyer, mediator and Subchapter V trustee, says Amy Denton Mayer at Berger Singerman.

  • 4th Circ. Class Cert. Ruling Offers Tips For Damages Experts

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    The Fourth Circuit's recent decision reversing class certification in litigation against Boeing raises the cost of a bare-bones damages model proposal for plaintiffs, but it also clarifies what a defensible proposal should contain, say Alok Khare and Erica Rose at FTI Consulting.

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