SCOTUS decides Coinbase

SCOTUS issued its ruling in the closely watched Coinbase, Inc. v. Suski case (Docket 23-3, 602 US 143).  This case pertained to parties that entered into multiple contracts that had conflicting arbitration provisions.  The Court ruled, unanimously, that it is the court that is to determine which contract governs, not the arbitrator.

Coinbase had, as part of its site’s terms & conditions, an arbitration clause which indicated that disputes would be arbitrated.  Coinbase then offered an online sweepstakes with Dogecoin as a prize.  But the rules of the sweepstakes mandated that disputes were to be heard by the California courts.  After the sweepstakes concluded, a class action case was filed in the California courts, but Coinbase sought to have it moved to arbitration. 

Given the conflicting contracts, arbitrability became the threshold issue.  SCOTUS determined that, because the sweepstakes’s rules were later in time than the T&Cs for the website, the rules controlled.  The Court noted that its ruling was narrow in scope and did not affect the enforceability of delegations clauses contained in a single contract.