Law360: 9th Circuit Says Postmates Can’t Duck $10M In Arbitration Fees

Our clients won a significant victory yesterday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Just two weeks after oral argument, the court affirmed a district court ruling compelling Postmates to arbitrate with more than 5,000 of our clients.

Warren Postman argued the case on behalf of thousands of Postmates couriers, who allege that the company failed to pay minimum wage and overtime because it improperly classified them as independent contractors.

In this matter, courts are simply holding Postmates to the terms it agreed to when it insisted on resolving disputes in arbitration, rather than in court.

A three-judge panel unanimously upheld a decision by California federal Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong, who in October 2019 ordered the company to live up to its agreement to litigate the couriers’ cases in separate arbitration proceedings, which included a commitment to cover filing fees for each of the workers’ cases and handle them on an individual basis, rather than as a class action.

Read the full story on Law360.com.

*As of April 2022, the firm has changed its name from Keller Lenkner to Keller Postman.