Supreme Court declines review in Flowers Foods arbitration case

The Supreme Court declined to take up Flowers Foods’ appeal in a dispute over whether baked-goods delivery distributors fall within the Federal Arbitration Act’s transportation-worker exemption, leaving a Tenth Circuit ruling intact.

Bloomberg Law reported the certiorari denial on May 18, 2026. The case is Flowers Foods, Inc. v. Brock, No. 24-935.

The underlying issue is whether delivery distributors who handle baked goods qualify as transportation workers exempt from arbitration under the FAA. A ruling for the workers means the dispute can proceed in court rather than in private arbitration.

The Supreme Court’s docket ties the case to the Tenth Circuit, not the Second Circuit reference that appeared in a seed summary. SCOTUSblog’s case page shows the matter was argued on March 25, 2026.

The Court’s order list for May 18 included the denial, and no separate written statement was confirmed in the sources reviewed.

The decision leaves the lower-court ruling in place and closes the door, for now, on further Supreme Court review in the case.