Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

John Doe, et al. v. Airbnb, Inc.

Paid petition · Supreme Court of Florida, No. SC20-1167 · judgment March 31, 2022


Certiorari denied · December 5, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

When parties enter into an arbitration agreement, it is presumed that they intend for a court, not an arbitrator, to decide whether any future disputes will be arbitrable under the agreement. First Options of Chicago, Inc. v. Kaplan, 514 U.S. 938, 944 (1995). That presumption can be overcome, but only when “clear and unmistakable” evidence shows the parties’ intent to have an arbitrator decide the arbitrability question instead of a court. Id. The question presented is: If a form arbitration agreement provides that an arbitration, if it occurs, will be administered using a particular set of procedural rules, and those rules say an arbitrator has the power to rule on the arbitrability of a claim, is that enough, on its own, to establish “clear and unmistakable evidence” of the contracting parties’ intent to have an arbitrator decide the question of arbitrability?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Thomas James Seider
Brannock Humphries & Berman

For respondent
Raechel Keay Kummer
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Linked docket
21A841

Proceedings

  1. Dec 05 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Nov 15 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/2/2022.
  3. Nov 10 2022
    Reply of petitioners John and Jane Doe filed. (Distributed)
  4. Oct 28 2022
    Brief of respondent Airbnb, Inc. in opposition filed.
  5. Sep 28 2022
    Response Requested. (Due October 28, 2022)
  6. Sep 14 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/7/2022.
  7. Aug 30 2022
    Brief amicus curiae of Professor George A. Bermann filed.
  8. Aug 24 2022
    Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, Airbnb, Inc.
  9. Aug 23 2022
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, John and Jane Doe
  10. Jul 29 2022
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 1, 2022)
  11. Jun 21 2022
    Application (21A841) granted by Justice Thomas extending the time to file until July 29, 2022.
  12. Jun 16 2022
    Application (21A841) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from June 29, 2022 to August 29, 2022, submitted to Justice Thomas.