⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

A company's attempt to end its union contract leads to a fight about who decides whether that contract still applies. Brawn Mechanical and Local Sixteen were parties to a collective bargaining agreement, or CBA: their union contract. The company sent notice saying it would end the agreement on June thirtieth. It then used nonunion workers, and the union filed a grievance, a formal complaint under the contract. The union said an automatic-renewal clause kept the agreement in force. An arbitration board agreed that the contract remained binding during the disputed period. A federal judge confirmed its award, and the company appealed. Repudiation means rejecting obligations under a contract; whether that actually ended this agreement is disputed. Arbitrability asks whether the parties agreed to have this dispute decided through arbitration. Michael Cox, for the company, will argue that the court had to decide whether the union filed a timely grievance before deferring to the arbitrators.

Sheet Metal Workers Local 16 v. Brawn Mechanical (No. 25-4867) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, argued October 28, 2026.