Opinion ID: 2803273
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Interlocutory Review under the FAA

Text: 28 U.S.C. § 1291 grants courts of appeals jurisdiction over “all final decisions of the district courts of the United States.” A final decision “is a decision by the district court that ‘ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute the judgment.’” Utah ex rel. Utah State Dep’t of Health v. Kennecott Corp., 14 F.3d 1489, 1492 (10th Cir. 1994) (quoting Catlin v. United States, 324 U.S. 229, 233 -5- (1945)). A district court’s decision to lift a stay is not final; rather than end the litigation, it revives it. It would initially appear we do not have jurisdiction to review the district court’s decision here to lift the stay. Section 16(a)(1)(A) of the FAA, however, recognizes an exception to the final decision rule for an order that refuses a stay under 9 U.S.C. § 3. See 9 U.S.C. § 16(a)(1)(A). As explained above, § 3 mandates a stay of federal court proceedings pending arbitration. The provision manifests a “liberal federal policy favoring arbitration agreements.” Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 U.S. 20, 25 (1991) (quotations omitted). “In considering our appellate jurisdiction, . . . § 16(a) ensur[es] that district court orders hostile to arbitration agreements can be immediately appealed.” Grosvenor v. Qwest Corp., 733 F.3d 990, 995 (10th Cir. 2013) (alteration in original) (quotations omitted). Here, the district court initially stayed its proceedings on February 12, 2013. Its April 16, 2014 order lifted that stay. Our threshold question is whether the order lifting the stay is an order “refusing a stay of any action under section 3,” which would confer jurisdiction on this court to review the order. 9 U.S.C. § 16(a)(1)(A).