SANDRA RIEDERER v. UNITED HEALTHCARE SERVICES INC (2016)

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

SANDRA RIEDERER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNITED HEALTHCARE SERVICES, INC., Defendant-Appellant.

No. 16-3041

Decided: November 14, 2016

Before RICHARD A. POSNER, Circuit Judge, FRANK H. EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge, DIANE S. SYKES, Circuit Judge

Order

Sandra Riederer brought this suit as a class action on behalf of persons employed by United Healthcare, which asked the district court to refer the proceeding to a series of arbitrations, one for each employee. The district court denied this motion, observing that Lewis v. Epic Systems Corp., 823 F.3d 1147 (7th Cir. 2016), held invalid a contractual waiver of employees' opportunity to proceed collectively. United immediately appealed on the authority of 9 U.S.C. § 16(a). It concedes that Lewis is dispositive but contends that it is wrongly decided and asks us to overrule it. Yet Lewis was circulated before release to all active judges under Circuit Rule 40(e), and none favored a hearing en banc. There is an entrenched conflict among the circuits on the question in Lewis, and this court's reconsideration could not spare the Supreme Court the need to resolve the conflict. Multiple petitions for certiorari in cases presenting this question are pending before the Supreme Court. That is the right forum for United's arguments.

AFFIRMED

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