Florida AG v. OpenAI: The Forum Fight Over COPPA and State-Law Deceptive Practices Before Judge Aileen Cannon

Florida AG v. OpenAI: The Forum Fight Over COPPA and State-Law Deceptive Practices Before Judge Aileen Cannon

The high-stakes civil enforcement action filed by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman has entered a critical procedural battleground over jurisdiction. What began as a state-court action in Highlands County Circuit Court has been removed to federal court, putting the merits of the case on hold while the parties litigate whether a state attorney general's deceptive practices claims can be federalized.

The Notice of Removal and the COPPA Pivot

On July 2, 2026, OpenAI filed a Notice of Removal, transferring the case to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Fort Pierce Division (Case No. 2:26-cv-14238-AC), where it was assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon.

OpenAI's removal strategy rests on a single federal hook: the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Although Florida's complaint is framed under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA) and common law torts, OpenAI argues that the state's allegations regarding the collection of minors' data necessarily turn on federal law:

"First, this Court has federal jurisdiction because Plaintiff explicitly alleges claims that arise under federal law, specifically alleging violations of COPPA. See Ex. A, ¶¶ 219-239 (alleging violations of COPPA and implementing regulations)... Second, this Court has an independent basis for federal question jurisdiction because a violation of COPPA is an essential element of at least one of Plaintiff's causes of action, resolution of which necessarily depends on the construction and application of COPPA and its implementing regulations promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission ('FTC')."

Florida's Push for Remand

Florida responded rapidly by filing a Motion to Remand, arguing that the case is fundamentally a state-law consumer-protection action. The state contends that the references to children's data collection are merely evidentiary support for its broader deceptive trade practices and public nuisance claims, rather than a standalone federal cause of action. Under the well-pleaded complaint rule, Florida argues that a defendant cannot manufacture federal jurisdiction by pointing to a single federal statute referenced in a comprehensive 83-page state-law complaint.

As legal analyst Stephen Gordon notes:

"Florida’s remand motion argues the obvious: this is not a COPPA case. It is a Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act case, brought under a state statute, alleging state-law causes of action — negligence, strict liability, fraudulent misrepresentation, public nuisance — that a state attorney general is entitled to bring in state court under a state consumer-protection framework built for exactly this purpose.¹"

OpenAI Fortifies Its Defense with Brad Bondi

In a highly strategic legal maneuver, OpenAI has significantly bolstered its Florida-based defense team. The company added Paul Hastings litigation partner Brad Bondi—the brother of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (and successor to the office now held by Uthmeier)—to lead its defense. Bondi joins Florida-based Gunster lawyers, including former U.S. Senator George LeMieux, who filed the initial removal notice on behalf of OpenAI.

Procedural Standstill and Enterprise Implications

The jurisdictional "forum fight" has resulted in a procedural standstill. While the state court had previously granted an extension of time setting OpenAI's responsive pleading deadline for August 24, 2026, no Motion to Dismiss has been filed on the merits. As Gordon observes:

"No motion to dismiss has been filed in the civil case, and none can meaningfully be briefed while the forum question sits open — a defendant does not typically want to argue the merits of a complaint in a court it is simultaneously arguing lacks jurisdiction to hear it."

For enterprise risk and legal teams, the Florida v. OpenAI forum fight highlights a critical defense strategy for AI developers: leveraging federal preemption and statutory frameworks like COPPA to pull aggressive state-level enforcement actions into the more structured, lifetime-tenured environment of federal courts. Conversely, it underscores the determination of state regulators to use traditional common law doctrines—such as public nuisance and strict product liability—to bypass federal bottlenecks and hold AI developers directly accountable before local state juries.