Filed: Oct. 04, 2018
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION OCT 04 2018 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT CHRISTERPHOR ZIGLAR; et al., No. 17-16920 Plaintiffs-Appellees, D.C. No. 2:16-cv-02726-SRB v. MEMORANDUM* EXPRESS MESSENGER SYSTEMS, INC., dba OnTrac, a Delaware corporation, Defendant-Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona Susan R. Bolton, District Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted August 15, 2018 San Francisco, C
Summary: FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION OCT 04 2018 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT CHRISTERPHOR ZIGLAR; et al., No. 17-16920 Plaintiffs-Appellees, D.C. No. 2:16-cv-02726-SRB v. MEMORANDUM* EXPRESS MESSENGER SYSTEMS, INC., dba OnTrac, a Delaware corporation, Defendant-Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona Susan R. Bolton, District Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted August 15, 2018 San Francisco, Ca..
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FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
OCT 04 2018
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
CHRISTERPHOR ZIGLAR; et al., No. 17-16920
Plaintiffs-Appellees, D.C. No. 2:16-cv-02726-SRB
v.
MEMORANDUM*
EXPRESS MESSENGER SYSTEMS,
INC., dba OnTrac, a Delaware corporation,
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Arizona
Susan R. Bolton, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted August 15, 2018
San Francisco, California
Before: SCHROEDER, SILER,** and GRABER, Circuit Judges.
Express Messenger Systems, Inc. (“OnTrac”) appeals the district court’s
order denying its motion to compel arbitration of wage-and-hour claims brought by
delivery drivers. We have jurisdiction under 9 U.S.C. § 16, and we review the
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The Honorable Eugene E. Siler, United States Circuit Judge for the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, sitting by designation.
denial of arbitration de novo. Poublon v. C.H. Robinson Co.,
846 F.3d 1251, 1259
(9th Cir. 2017). We vacate the district court’s order and remand for further
proceedings.
The district court denied OnTrac’s motion to compel arbitration on the
ground that the arbitration provision in the “Owner Operator Agreements” between
the drivers and Subcontracting Concepts CT, LLC, was substantively
unconscionable under Arizona law. After the district court entered its order, the
Supreme Court issued its opinion in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis,
138 S. Ct. 1612
(2018), addressing the applicability of the Federal Arbitration Act’s “saving
clause,” which permits arbitration agreements to be invalidated by “such grounds
as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.” 9 U.S.C. § 2; see
AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion,
563 U.S. 333, 339 (2011).
We therefore vacate the district court’s order denying OnTrac’s motion to
compel arbitration and remand for further proceedings in light of Epic Systems
Corp., including, if appropriate, consideration of the parties’ other arguments
regarding arbitrability. We also note for the district court’s further consideration
that there is a pending case, currently on the court’s Seattle calendar for November
2018, that may raise similar issues: Ege v. Express Messenger Sys., Inc., No. 17-
35123.
2
VACATED and REMANDED. The parties shall bear their own costs on
appeal.
3