Rittmann et al v. Amazon.com Inc et al
Filing
98
MINUTE ORDER denying Plaintiffs' 94 Motion to Lift Stay authorized by U.S. District Judge John C Coughenour. (TH)
THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT SEATTLE
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BERNADEAN RITTMANN, et al.,
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Plaintiffs,
CASE NO. C16-1554-JCC
MINUTE ORDER
v.
AMAZON.COM, INC., et al.,
Defendants
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The following Minute Order is made by direction of the Court, the Honorable John C.
Coughenour, United States District Judge:
Plaintiffs ask the Court to lift the stay in this case in light of the Supreme Court’s recent
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decision in Epic Sys. Corp. v. Lewis, No. 16-285, slip op. (U.S. May 21, 2018). (See Dkt. No. 94
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at 2.) As a result of the holding in Epic, Plaintiffs concede, “the NLRA no longer provides a
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basis for invalidating Amazon’s arbitration agreement, which contains a class action waiver.”
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(Id.) Accordingly, Plaintiffs ask the Court to now consider its alternative argument that the
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Federal Arbitration Act’s (“FAA”) transportation worker exemption applies. (Id.) (citing 9
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U.S.C. § 1). This issue is currently under consideration by the Ninth Circuit in Van Dusen v.
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Swift Transp. Co., No. 17-15102 (9th Cir. Jan. 20, 2017). As the Court previously indicated, this
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Court will not consider Plaintiff’s argument until “the Ninth Circuit’s resolution of Swift,” which
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MINUTE ORDER C16-1554-JCC
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has not yet occurred. 1 (Dkt. No. 77 at 6.) Accordingly, Plaintiffs’ motion to lift the stay (Dkt. No.
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94) is DENIED.
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DATED this 11th day of June 2018.
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William M. McCool
Clerk of Court
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s/Tomas Hernandez
Deputy Clerk
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This decision has been stayed pending the Supreme Court’s decision in New Prime v.
Oliveira, No. 17-340 (Feb. 26, 2018). Partly at issue in New Prime is whether independent
contractors fall under the FAA’s transportation worker exemption. See Oliveira v. New Prime,
Inc., 857 F.3d 7, 15 (1st Cir. 2017), cert. granted, 138 S. Ct. 1164 (2018).
MINUTE ORDER C16-1554-JCC
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