O'Connor v. Uber, No. 14-16078 (9th Cir. 2018)
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Plaintiffs, current and former Uber drivers, filed putative class actions alleging that Uber violated various federal and state statutes by, among other things, misclassifying drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. The Ninth Circuit previously considered and reversed the district court's orders denying Uber's motions to compel arbitration in Mohamed v. Uber Technologies, Inc., 848 F.3d 1201, 1206 (9th Cir. 2016).
In this case, the panel rejected plaintiffs' additional arguments as to why the arbitration agreements were unenforceable. Because the class certification by the district court was premised on the district court's determination that the arbitration agreements were unenforceable, the panel reversed class certification. The panel also held that the Rule 23(d) orders were based on the district court’s denial of the motions to compel arbitration and its granting of class certification. Because these decisions must be reversed, there was no longer a basis for the district court's restrictions on Uber's communication with class and putative class members. Therefore, these orders were moot and the panel reversed.
Court Description: Class Action / Arbitration. The panel reversed the district court’s denial of Uber Technologies, Inc.’s motions to compel arbitration, reversed the district court’s class certification orders, and reversed as moot and without foundation the district court’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(d) orders in several putative class actions brought by current and former Uber drivers alleging violations of various federal and state statutes arising from Uber’s classification of drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. In Mohamed v. Uber Technologies, Inc., 848 F.3d 1201, 1206 (9th Cir. 2016), the panel previously considered and reversed the district court’s orders denying Uber’s motion to compel arbitration. The panel rejected plaintiffs’ additional arguments in this current appeal alleging that the arbitration agreements were unenforceable. First, the plaintiffs argued that the lead plaintiffs in the O’Connor case constructively opted out of arbitration on behalf of the entire class. The panel held this was unpersuasive because nothing gave the O’Connor lead plaintiffs the authority to take that action on behalf of and binding other drivers, and the decision in Bickerstaff v. Suntrust Bank, 788 S.E.2d 787 (Ga. 2016), was not instructive where it relied exclusively on state law grounds and did not discuss the Federal Arbitration Act. Second, the plaintiffs argued that the arbitration agreements were O’CONNOR V. UBER 7 unenforceable because they contained class action waivers that violated the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. The panel held that this argument was rejected by the Supreme Court in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, 138 S. Ct. 1612 (2018). The panel held that it had jurisdiction to review both the original class certification order and the December 9, 2015 certification order. The panel held that in the wake of the decision in Mohamed, the class certification orders must be reversed because they were premised upon the district court’s conclusion that the arbitration agreements were not enforceable. The question whether those agreements were enforceable was not properly for the district court to answer because the question of arbitrability was designated to the arbitrator. The panel held that remand for further proceedings was appropriate, and leaving the existing class certification orders in place in the meantime was not appropriate. The panel held that the district court’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(d) orders must be reversed as moot and without foundation in light of the panel’s reversal of the district court’s orders denying the motions to compel arbitration and certifying the class. 8 O’CONNOR V. UBER
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