Ninth Circuit holds Amazon drivers are not required to arbitrate

Following on the Third Circuit‘s ruling that gig-economy drivers, like those for Uber and Lyft, are not required to arbitrate, the Ninth Circuit held that so-called final mile drivers for Amazon, who deliver products from Amazon warehouses to their final destination also fall into the interstate transportation exception and therefore are not required to arbitrate. Although such drivers may, themselves, drive only intrastate, they are, in doing so, the Ninth Circuit held, merely completing the final leg of interstate transportation, at least where the goods do not “come to rest” in the in-state warehouse where such drivers pick them up for final delivery.

Source: Rittman v. Amazon, Inc., — F.3d — (9^th Cir. 8/19/2020).