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Washington
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June 02, 2025
Justices Reject Bard Patent Misuse Dispute
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it won't consider the Ninth Circuit's decision to revive a $53 million breach of contract suit C.R. Bard Inc. filed against Atrium Medical Corp. over patent royalties and patent misuse.
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May 30, 2025
Real Estate Recap: Religious Land, Hotel Surge, Land-Banking
Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including interviews with attorneys about recent disputes over land use for religious purposes, a surge in hospitality sector transactions, and the rise of land-banking law.
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May 30, 2025
Wash. High Court Relaxes Standard For Worker Illness Suits
Washington's highest court has lowered the bar for employees to sue over work-related illnesses, finding that in cases of latent diseases such as mesothelioma, a worker has a valid claim if they show their employer was "virtually certain" that the malady would develop.
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May 30, 2025
Shopper Wants Class Cert. In Mistranslated Cookie Label Suit
A shopper has urged a California federal court to certify three classes of consumers accusing a Japanese convenience store chain of selling snacks with dangerously mistranslated English labels that failed to disclose nut allergens, arguing common legal issues predominate because the company used "uniformly mistranslated" labeling across thousands of products.
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May 30, 2025
Wash. Judge Doubts Valve's Suit Alleging Arbitration Scheme
A Washington state appellate judge pushed back Friday against Valve Corp.'s stance that it could sue an attorney over an alleged scheme to manipulate arbitration pacts between the gaming giant and its customers, suggesting the company opened the door for such conduct by previously forcing gamers to arbitrate antitrust claims individually.
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May 30, 2025
DHS Targets Sanctuary Cities In Noncompliance Notice
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has put hundreds of cities and counties in 35 states and the District of Columbia on notice for being what the department deems as unlawful safe havens for undocumented immigrants, advancing the Trump administration's April vow to target sanctuary cities.
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May 30, 2025
Radar Co. Saves Trade Secret Claims In Suit Against Ex-Exec
A Washington federal judge has preserved a radar company's claims that a former executive stole confidential information as he left to start his own company, while dismissing other breach of contract claims against the executive and another former employee.
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May 30, 2025
Former Pfizer Atty, Motley Rice Adviser Joins DiCello Levitt
A former Pfizer vice president and assistant general counsel, who last June entered into a consulting agreement with Motley Rice LLC, is joining DiCello Levitt as a partner as part of the firm's Washington, D.C., public client practice group, the firm recently announced.
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May 30, 2025
Trump Admin Says States Can't Fight Wind Permit Pause
The Trump administration said a Massachusetts federal judge should reject states' push to block a decision to pause permitting for wind energy projects, saying their claims amount to nothing more than a policy disagreement with no place in court.
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May 29, 2025
ZoomInfo Wants Out Of Investors' Accounting Fraud Claims
Software company ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. urged a Washington federal judge to toss a proposed investor class action accusing it of making missteps in an effort to retain new pandemic-era customers, claiming the "fraud-by-hindsight" allegations are inactionable.
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May 29, 2025
DOT Calls States' EV Charging Funding Suit Premature
The U.S. Department of Transportation urged a Washington federal judge to reject an attempt by 16 states to block the Trump administration from cutting off funding for electric vehicle charging projects, saying their claims aren't yet ripe for review.
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May 29, 2025
Monsanto Won't Get Damages Offset In $100M PCB Tort Loss
A Washington state judge has denied Monsanto's bid to reduce the latest $100 million verdict in a chemical poisoning tort series that's yielded more than $1 billion in punitive damages, concluding that the agro-chemical giant hid the health dangers of PCBs for decades in pursuit of profit.
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May 29, 2025
Split 9th Circ. Says Spa's Rule On Certain Trans Women Biased
A divided Ninth Circuit refused to reinstate a Korean spa's constitutional challenge against the Washington State Human Rights Commission and ordered it to rescind its policy denying admission to trans women without gender-affirming surgery, noting Thursday the policy violated state law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
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May 29, 2025
FTC Seeks To Push Amazon Antitrust Trial To 2027
The Federal Trade Commission and Amazon on Wednesday fought over the agency's proposal to push back an antitrust trial into 2027 to account for the e-commerce giant's alleged efforts to obstruct discovery, with Amazon telling a Washington federal judge that it was the FTC that insisted on a burdensome discovery.
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May 29, 2025
Judge Finds Epic Verdict Means One Patent Claim Invalid
A Washington federal judge has found that part of a jury's decision clearing Epic Games Inc. of patent infringement through its Fortnite game platform meant that one of the claims in the patent wasn't patent eligible.
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May 29, 2025
DOJ Officially Files To Drop Boeing 737 Max Conspiracy Case
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday formally moved to drop its criminal conspiracy case against Boeing over the deadly 737 Max 8 crashes and asked a Texas federal judge to vacate the June 23 trial date, saying a $1.1 billion nonprosecution agreement is a meaningful resolution that holds the company accountable.
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May 29, 2025
Amazon Says Class Too Complex To Certify In Antitrust Suit
Amazon has told a Washington federal judge in a newly unsealed filing that a proposed class of nearly 300 million customers would be far too unwieldy for certification and defining the market in a suit accusing the company of inflating prices of items sold on its platform.
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May 29, 2025
Big Oil Caused Woman's Heat Wave Death, Novel Suit Says
The daughter of a Seattle woman who died during a 2021 heat wave filed a first-of-its kind wrongful death suit in Washington state court Thursday against oil and gas giants — including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell — alleging the companies knew for decades their fossil fuel products would one day "claim lives."
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May 29, 2025
Wash. Justices Upend Cannabis Co. Win In Wage Suit
Washington state's Department of Labor and Industries does not need to issue a formal letter demanding an employer pay a specific sum to employees before launching a wage and hour lawsuit, the state's supreme court held Thursday, upending a cannabis company's win in a lawsuit the agency launched against it.
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May 29, 2025
NYT, Amazon Reach Licensing Deal To Use Content For AI
The New York Times and Amazon have reached a licensing deal for the tech and online retail giant to use the newspaper's editorial content on its artificial intelligence platforms, the companies announced Thursday.
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May 28, 2025
16 States Sue Trump Admin Over Cuts To Science Grants
A coalition of 16 state attorneys general have sued the Trump administration in New York federal court on Wednesday to stop it from cutting millions of dollars in grant funds from the National Science Foundation for scientific research and programs aimed at enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM fields and environmental justice.
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May 28, 2025
5-Hour Energy Price Discrimination Suit Falls Short Again
A California federal judge ruled Wednesday that family-owned wholesalers proved competition with Costco in their price-discrimination suit against the maker of 5-Hour Energy and that the energy "shot" company offered Costco disproportionate promotions, but the wholesalers did not prove that this discrimination caused them antitrust injury.
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May 28, 2025
Feds Tell Justices 9th Circ. Wrongly OK'd CWA Citizen Suit
The federal government is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to sink an environmental group's Clean Water Act citizen suit seeking to enforce the terms of a Washington state-issued pollutant-discharge permit that is stricter than the law requires.
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May 28, 2025
20 State AGs Urge 9th Circ. To Resume Refugee Admissions
Attorneys general from 20 states, as well as former federal immigration officials, have chimed in to support reinstatement of U.S. refugee admissions amid a pending legal challenge to President Donald Trump's indefinite suspension of the program, according to briefs recently filed with the Ninth Circuit.
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May 28, 2025
Feds Won't Appeal Offshore Fish Farming Permit Decision
The federal government will not appeal a decision to set aside a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' permit intended to speed up industrial aquaculture in public ocean waters, ending the dispute and any future use of the structures off the country's eastern and western coasts.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
The BigLaw Settlements Are About Risk, Not Profit
The nine Am Law 100 firms that settled with the Trump administration likely did so because of the personal risk faced by equity partners in today's billion‑dollar national practices, enabled by an ethics rule primed for modernization, says Adam Forest at Scale.
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What Gene Findings Mean For Asbestos Mesothelioma Claims
Recent advances in genetic research have provided substantial evidence that significant numbers of malignant mesothelioma cases may be caused by inherited mutations rather than asbestos exposure — a finding that could fundamentally change how defendants approach personal injury litigation over mesothelioma, say David Schwartz at Lumanity and Kirk Hartley at LSP Group.
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Series
Brazilian Jiujitsu Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Competing in Brazilian jiujitsu – often against opponents who are much larger and younger than me – has allowed me to develop a handful of useful skills that foster the resilience and adaptability necessary for a successful legal career, says Tina Dorr of Barnes & Thornburg.
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Birthright Ruling Could Alter Consumer Financial Litigation
The U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming decision about the validity of the nationwide injunctions in the birthright citizenship cases, argued on May 15, could make it much harder for trade associations to obtain nationwide relief from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's enforcement of invalid regulations, says Alan Kaplinsky at Ballard Spahr.
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What Employers Should Know About New Wash. WARN Act
Washington state's Securing Timely Notification and Benefits for Laid-Off Employees Act will soon require 60 days' notice for certain mass layoffs and business closures, so employers should understand how their obligations differ from those under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act before implementing layoffs or closings, say attorneys at Littler.
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What To Know About New Wash. Community Association Law
A series of recent legislative updates that greatly expand application of the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act pose significant challenges to the volunteer board members who administer and operate condos and homeowners associations, but there are ways to lessen the newly imposed administrative burden, says Tim Feth at VF Law.
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Series
Power To The Paralegals: An Untapped Source For Biz Roles
Law firms looking to recruit legal business talent should consider turning to paralegals, who practice several key skills every day that prepare them to thrive in marketing and client development roles, says Vanessa Torres at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Series
Playing Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Poker is a master class in psychology, risk management and strategic thinking, and I’m a better attorney because it has taught me to read my opponents, adapt when I’m dealt the unexpected and stay patient until I'm ready to reveal my hand, says Casey Kingsley at McCreadyLaw.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Becoming A Firmwide MVP
Though lawyers don't have a neat metric like baseball players for measuring the value they contribute to their organizations, the sooner new attorneys learn skills frequently skipped in law school — like networking, marketing, client development and case evaluation — the more valuable, and less replaceable, they will be, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.
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9th Circ. Ruling Clarifies Derivative Suit Representation Test
The Ninth Circuit's recent ruling in Bigfoot Ventures v. Knighton clarifies the test used to assess the adequacy of a plaintiff's representation in a shareholder derivative action, and will likely prove useful to litigants by ensuring that courts can fully examine all relevant circumstances, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Mass. Suit Points To New Scrutiny For Home Equity Contracts
The Massachusetts attorney general’s recent charge that a lender sold unregulated reverse mortgages shows more regulators are scrutinizing mortgage alternatives like home equity contracts, but a similar case in the Ninth Circuit suggests more courts need to help develop a consensus on these products' legality, say attorneys at Weiner Brodsky.
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$38M Law Firm Settlement Highlights 'Unworthy Client' Perils
A recent settlement of claims against law firm Eckert Seamans for allegedly abetting a Ponzi scheme underscores the continuing threat of clients who seek to exploit their lawyers in perpetrating fraud, and the critical importance of preemptive measures to avoid these clients, say attorneys at Lockton Companies.
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Series
Teaching Business Law Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Teaching business law to college students has rekindled my sense of purpose as a lawyer — I am more mindful of the importance of the rule of law and the benefits of our common law system, which helps me maintain a clearer perspective on work, says David Feldman at Feldman Legal Advisors.
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Navigating The Expanding Frontier Of Premerger Notice Laws
Washington's newly enacted law requiring premerger notification to state enforcers builds upon a growing trend of state scrutiny into transactions in the healthcare sector and beyond, and may inspire other states to enact similar legislation, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Jurisdictional Issues At Play In 9th Circ.'s FCA Trade Case
A decision by the Ninth Circuit in Island Industries v. Sigma Corp. could result in the U.S. Court of International Trade’s exclusive jurisdiction over trade-related FCA cases, a big shift in the enforcement landscape just as tariffs take center stage in trade policy, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.