Lamps Plus should have been decided on jurisdictional grounds: the district court should have stayed (not dismissed) the action, and a stay isn’t appealable.
May 23, 2019
In Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, the Supreme Court held that a defendant seeking arbitration could appeal a district court decision that dismissed an action after ordering classwide arbitration (instead of the individual arbitration the defendant wanted). In doing so, the Court elided an issue that has split the courts of appeals for years: whether a district court must stay an action—not dismiss it—after ordering arbitration. Resolution of that issue affects appellate jurisdiction. And had the Court resolved it and held that stays are required, it would have had to dismiss Lamps Plus for lack of jurisdiction.