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Supreme Court hears dispute over who decides if arbitration applies in Coinbase sweepstakes case
Summary
At oral argument in Coinbase v. Suske, counsel for both sides told the justices they agree the Ninth Circuit's reasoning was flawed and that the case should be remanded for a proper severability and state-law analysis; the central question is whether an earlier delegation clause requires an arbitrator to decide if later sweepstakes rules displaced that clause.
Miss Ellsworth, arguing before the Supreme Court, told the justices that the Federal Arbitration Act requires courts to enforce arbitration agreements according to their terms and that the delegation clause in the parties' user agreement assigns the threshold arbitrability question to an arbitrator. "The Federal Arbitration Act requires courts to enforce arbitration agreements according to their terms," she said, urging the Court to clarify that the severability principle applies when successive contracts are at issue.
A justice pressed whether the alleged confusion comes from the sweepstakes' official rules rather than the user agreement; Ellsworth said any drafting ambiguities should be resolved by the arbitrator…
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