⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

This episode features oral argument in Amaya versus Menzies Aviation USA, Incorporated, heard before a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The core legal issue is whether the defendant Menzies waived its right to compel arbitration by waiting twenty-eight months after the complaint was filed to move for arbitration, and whether the district court correctly applied the transportation worker exemption under Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act to the twenty-nine classes of workers involved in this case. The case is a wage-and-hour class action brought by employees of Menzies Aviation, a ground handling company at California airports. One lesser-known wrinkle: this case was unfolding parallel to another Ninth Circuit case, Lopez, also involving Menzies fuelers, and the defendant claims it strategically waited for that controlling precedent before moving to compel arbitration here. The district court found no waiver, but the panel presses both sides on whether that twenty-eight-month delay—filled with discovery, motions, and class certification briefing—should bar arbitration altogether.

Amaya v. Menzies Aviation USA, Inc. (No. 25-2041) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, argued July 8, 2026.