The Supreme Court Requires Automatic Stay of District Court Proceedings Pending Appeal of the Denial of a Motion to Compel Arbitration

On June 23, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski, 599 U.S. –, 2023 WL 4138983 (June 23, 2023) that a party appealing a district court’s ruling denying a motion to compel arbitration may not be forced to litigate the merits of the parties’ dispute while its appeal is pending. Issued just a day after the Supreme Court’s decision in Yegiazaryan v. Smagin, the Coinbase decision offers yet another protection for arbitration by ensuring that parties asserting a right to arbitrate are not forced to expend the time and cost of litigating matters that may ultimately be sent to arbitration. A summary and analysis of the decision by DLA Piper’s Class Action team is available here.