Amazon has hit another legal roadblock in an eight-year-long battle over driver classification. A Washington federal judge on Wednesday denied the e-commerce giant’s request to send a collective certification issue to the Ninth Circuit, ruling that Amazon failed to show how an appeal would expedite litigation.

Judge: Appeal Based on ‘A Raft of Assumptions’

U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour’s decision shut down Amazon’s attempt to challenge the district court’s approval of a broad driver collective under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The company argued that the court improperly allowed equitable tolling back to October 2016, potentially expanding the case beyond statutory limits.

"Defendants would only be correct that an appeal will advance the litigation if a raft of assumptions come to pass," Judge Coughenour wrote. "That is not enough for this court to certify the order."

Amazon also raised concerns about the inclusion of drivers bound by arbitration agreements, claiming a lack of clarity on whether such agreements impact the FLSA’s "similarly situated" standard. Judge Coughenour, however, dismissed the argument, stating that the Ninth Circuit had trended toward allowing conditional certification despite arbitration clauses.

Justice Delayed, but Not Denied

The judge emphasized that the court weighed "the interest of justice" in favor of equitable tolling due to the case’s prolonged history, which included an eight-year stay on the plaintiffs’ original certification motion.

The lawsuit has already seen a pivotal 2020 Ninth Circuit ruling, in which a divided panel held that Amazon drivers could bypass arbitration even if they did not cross state lines in their deliveries.

Last September, the district court also trimmed claims tied to several states' wage laws and the FLSA, narrowing the scope of the case.

Workers’ Counsel Applauds the Ruling

Shannon Liss-Riordan, who represents the drivers, expressed satisfaction with the decision. "We are looking forward to proceeding with this eight-year-old case and are pleased the court recognized that notice to drivers should not be further delayed by another appeal," she told Law360.