Circuits split on appeals after arbitration is denied

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted March 13, 2023 11:17 AM

In cases where a litigant pursues an interlocutory appeal under Sec. 16(a) of the Federal Arbitration Act after a request for an order compelling arbitration is denied, there’s a 5-3 split in the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal on whether the appeal “divests the district court of jurisdiction to proceed on the merits.”Because the 6th Circuit hasn’t considered this issue, Chief U.S. District Judge Hala Y. Jarbou, in the Western District of Michigan, got to pick one of the alternatives when former executives of Howmet …

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