Rittmann v. Amazon.com Inc

Opinion

THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 BERNADEAN RITTMANN, et al., Consolidated Action CASE NO. C16-1554-JCC 10 Plaintiffs, 11 MINUTE ORDER v. 12 AMAZON.COM, INC., et al., 13 Defendants. 14 15 This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction 16 (Dkt. No. 304). Plaintiffs ask the Court to enjoin Defendants from prosecuting actions to compel 17 the arbitration in 22 jurisdictions outside of this one for 74 individually named and/or opt-in 18 Plaintiffs in this action. (See generally Dkt. Nos. 302, 304.) The motion (Dkt. No. 304) is 19 currently noted for August 2, 2024, pending the receipt of Plaintiffs’ response to Defendants’ 20 surreply. (See Dkt. No. 322.) After reviewing the briefing to date, the Court concludes that 21 supplemental briefing is required. 22 First, the Court seeks argument as to why 9 U.S.C. § 4 would apply to each individual, 23 given the Federal Arbitration Act’s transportation worker exemption, as construed in Bissonnette 24 v. LePage Bakeries Park St., LLC, 601 U.S. 246, 256 (2024); Ortiz v. Randstad Inhouse Services, 25 LLC, 95 F.4th 1152, 1161 (9th Cir. 2024); and Carmona Mendoza v. Domino’s Pizza, LLC, 73 26 F.4th 1135, 1138 (9th Cir. 2023). 1 Second, the Court seeks the following information for each of the 74 individuals: (1) the 2 time period they provided services to Defendants (beginning and end date—if no longer 3 providing services); (2) which version of Defendants’ Terms of Service applied (and why); and 4 (3) whether they solely deliver(ed) locally stocked items (and if so, describe the nature of those 5 items). 6 Defendants shall submit a supplementary brief on the issues described above, not 7 exceeding six pages of argument (excluding declarations and exhibits), no later than August 9, 8 2024. Plaintiffs may file a response supplementary brief, also not exceeding six pages of 9 argument, no later than August 16, 2024. 10 11 DATED this 30th day of July 2024. 12 Ravi Subramanian 13 Clerk of Court 14 s/Kathleen Albert 15 Deputy Clerk 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26