Another SCOTUS arbitration case

The US Supreme Court has granted certiorari to review another arbitration case. Flower Foods, Inc. v. Brock (Cert granted 10/20/2025) [Briefs].

The issue: Are workers who deliver locally goods that travel in interstate commerce—but who do not transport the goods across borders nor interact with vehicles that cross borders—“transportation workers” “engaged in foreign or interstate commerce” for purposes of the Federal Arbitration Act’s § 1 exemption?

The facts are simple:

Flowers Foods produces baked goods that are sold in supermarkets, drug stores, and convenience stores throughout the United States. Angelo Brock owns a Colorado corporation that purchased the rights to market, sell, and distribute Flowers products in territories entirely within Colorado.  Brock orders products from Flowers, and Flowers then delivers those products to a warehouse in Colorado, where they are unloaded by Flowers.  Brock then picks up the products from the warehouse and delivers them to his customers.  Most of the products Brock delivers are shipped to the warehouse from out of state. But Brock’s territory is entirely contained within the State of Colorado. He never crosses state lines to deliver Flowers products.  Nor does he unload products when they arrive at the warehouse from out of state.

Brock sued claiming Flowers misclassified him as an independent contractor rather than an employee. Flowers moved to dismiss Brock’s lawsuit in favor of arbitration. The District Court held that Brock falls within Federal Arbitration Act § 1 and held the FAA inapplicable on that ground. The court reasoned that Brock is actively engaged in the transportation of Flowers’ products across state lines into Colorado because he places orders for products that arrive from out-of-state bakeries and then delivers those products to his Colorado customers. The 10th Circuit affirmed.

Just last year the Supreme Court looked at a similar fact pattern and held that a transportation worker need not work in the transportation industry to be exempt from coverage under §1 of the FAA. Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries (US S Ct 04/12/2024) [PDF].

Look for an oral argument early in 2026, and a decision by July.