Labor/Employment
May 22, 2026
9th Circuit rejects employees' use of offensive issue preclusion to avoid arbitration
In O'Dell v. Aya Healthcare Services, Inc., the 9th Circuit held that employees cannot use prior arbitral rulings to block arbitration, reaffirming that the FAA requires enforcement based on each individual agreement rather than non-mutual offensive collateral estoppel.
D. Andrew Quigley
Partner
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
Labor & Employment
550 S Hope St Ste 2000
Los Angeles , CA 90071
Phone: (213) 532-2121
Email: aquigley@hunton.com
USC Law School
The 9th Circuit recently addressed a significant question for employers: can employees rely on rulings denying arbitration in other cases to avoid arbitration under their own agreements?
In O'Dell v. Aya Healthcare Services, Inc., the court answered no.
Case background
The issue arose in a case involving a dispute that began when several former employees of Aya Healthcare Services (Aya), a t...
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