Elwood Discusses Frequency of Federal Arbitration Act Review in Bloomberg Law

John Elwood, head of the firm’s Appellate and Supreme Court practice, was quoted in the Bloomberg Law article, “Amazon Flex Drivers Case Tied Up as Courts Shape Arbitration Law,” which covers the proposed class action against Amazon.com Inc. The class action has been repeatedly paused as the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit considered the scope of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), which allows companies to enforce agreements to arbitrate claims made by workers and consumers.

According to a Bloomberg Law review, the Supreme Court has issued 33 opinions in FAA cases over the past 20 years. Elwood told the publication that this puts the FAA near the top of statutes reviewed in the last two decades, and “in that context, the Supreme Court is acting as the traffic cop for the most common alternative means of dispute resolution to in-court litigation.” He noted that other laws, such as the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the Armed Career Criminal Act, and the Immigration and Nationality Act, are also near the top of statutes frequently reviewed by the Court.

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