Washington Supreme Court Rejects Valve’s Lawsuit Against Co-Founder Of Morrow Ni LLP, Reaffirms Full Attorney Immunity For Good Faith Litigation

Two years ago, Valve Corporation -- the maker of steam -- sued mine and co-counsel's law firms for bringing a set of mass arbitrations against it--alleging "abuse of process" and tortious interference with their customers' (our arbitration clients) adhesion user agreements with Valve. Today, the Washington Supreme Court affirmed the Washington Appellate Court, Division 1's dismissal of these claims.

As the appellate courts found, that attorneys are completely immune from their actions taken in litigation is a "bedrock" principle of our justice system. And here, "[t]he conduct Valve complains of—the filing of thousands of individual arbitration requests—is a direct result of its own agreement barring class actions and prohibiting collective or representative arbitration. Such conduct is part of a legal practice and is directly related to representing clients, which is precisely the kind of conduct the litigation privilege is designed to protect." Our opposition to Valve's petition for the Washington Supreme Court's review is here.

The Washington Supreme Court’s affirmation of this decision not only ends Valve’s attempt to weaponize tort law against lawyers, it reinforces something foundational: attorneys cannot be sued for performing core advocacy on behalf of clients.