The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide an issue concerning cases that are subject to arbitration that has divided the federal appeals courts: When the claims at issue in a federal court suit are subject to arbitration, does the court have authority to dismiss the action, or can it only stay the action pending resolution of the arbitration? That is the question presented in Smith v. Spizzirri, an appeal from a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that the Supreme Court agreed to hear by granting the plaintiffs’ petition for a writ of certiorari this month.

Section 3 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 9 U.S.C. 3, provides: