Imagine that you are living in your car. One day, it's stolen for a joyride, abandoned and eventually towed away. You get a court order for the return of your car, but then discover that your very home, your 1991 Camry, has been sold for $175. Later, you find out that the towing company has the car back in their possession and holds it hostage for over a year, accruing $21,684 in storage fees.

Amanda Ogle didn't have to imagine it because this happened to her in 2017. To help navigate the bureaucratic nightmare, she enlisted the help of Kevin Eggers, J.D. '17, who had just graduated from UW Law and was providing legal aid through the Northwest Consumer Law Center. Ogle's case was Eggers' very first out of law school.

After a Seattle Times reporter wrote about the situation, Ogle was contacted by screenwriters who wanted to make her story into a movie. "Tow" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and opened in theaters nationwide on March 20, 2026. Directed by Stephanie Laing, it stars Rose Byrne and features an ensemble cast including Octavia Spencer, Demi Lovato, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Debose and Corbin Bernsen.

In this episode of Discovery, we talk with Eggers and Ogle about the towing dispute and their experiences with the real-life case turning into a movie.

In this episode of the Discovery podcast, Jevan Hutson, J.D. '20, incoming assistant professor of law and director of the Technology Law & Public Policy Clinic, discusses the article "Forget Me Not? Machine Unlearning's Implications for Privacy Law," which he co-authored in The Columbia Science & Technology Law Review. The article explores the intersection of generative AI, privacy and data protection law and focuses on "machine unlearning," an emerging tool designed to address privacy concerns. As generative AI systems increasingly process vast amounts of personal and sensitive data, the challenges they pose to privacy regulations are intensifying.

Machine unlearning allows for the selective removal or suppression of specific data — such as personal information that individuals request be deleted — from AI models. This process aims to help organizations comply with legal obligations and policy goals, particularly in response to data subject requests for data deletion. Hutson assesses whether the legal and remedial aims of privacy laws can be reconciled with the technical capabilities of machine unlearning.

Listeners are invited to consider the future of privacy law in an AI-driven world and the role of machine unlearning in preserving privacy rights.

In this episode of Discovery, we speak with Professor Peter Nicolas from the University of Washington School of Law about his new copyright law class, a case study of "The Wizard of Oz." The class debuted in winter quarter and included a mandatory group outing to "The Wiz" musical at Paramount Theatre.

Since The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in 1900, eventually entering the public domain, each new rendition raises fascinating copyright questions. The 1939 MGM film, "The Wizard of Oz," was separately copyrighted and introduced new expressive elements, along with reinterpretations like "The Wiz," a book and its corresponding Broadway musical which reimagined the story through an African American cultural lens. Nowadays we have spinoffs from the book Wicked which tells the backstory of the Wicked Witch followed by the Broadway musical and now a two-part film adaptation, beginning with "Wicked."

Professor Nicolas explains how copyright law goes beyond technical doctrine to be a framework that determines who can tell stories — and how.