- Term
- 2023-2024
Smith v. Spizzirri
This case was about whether the Federal Arbitration Act requires district courts to stay a lawsuit pending arbitration or whether district courts have discretion to dismiss when all claims are subject to arbitration. Corporations have used the Federal Arbitration Act to get around consumers seeking help through the courts when their interests are harmed. Corporations have been aided in this by the Supreme Court, which has made it easier for corporations to subject Americans to contracts of adhesion — basically standard form contracts that require arbitration to resolve disputes as a condition of accessing service, like a cell phone contract, and that attempt to foreclose access to the courts. At issue here was whether judges, some of whom are disproportionately sympathetic to corporate interests, must issue a stay when a civil case that has been filed proceeds to arbitration — which the plan language of the statute requires — or whether courts can dismiss such cases (as sought by corporate defendants despite the statutory language).
On May 16, 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act requires district courts to stay a lawsuit pending arbitration.
