Coinbase Case Seen Bringing Uniformity to Arbitration Appeals

The Supreme Court agreed to review a case, Coinbase v. Bielski (docket 22-105), that could provide a "major boost" to defendants seeking to enforce arbitration agreements in the circuit courts, including in the 2nd and 9th, “where they currently operate under a disadvantageous rule,” said a Morrison & Foerster analysis Tuesday. The circuits have "long disagreed" on the question of what happens to an underlying district court case when defendants exercise their right to appeal denials of motions to compel arbitration, it said. A SCOTUS decision in Coinbase could bring uniformity to the issue of whether a district court case can proceed normally or if it gets automatically stayed until the appellate court decides whether the dispute belongs in court at all, it said. One 9th Circuit case that bears watching is Verizon’s appeal of a district court’s denial of its motion to compel arbitration (see 2212050035). The plaintiff-appellees don’t deny that arbitration terms existed in their customer agreements when they signed up for Verizon service, but the district court agreed with them that the arbitration provisions were unconscionable and unenforceable.