(Bloomberg) -- Uber Technologies Inc. lost its bid to freeze a lawsuit bound fortrial over California drivers’ demands to be treated as employeeswhile the company appeals rulings that dramatically increased thestakes in the case.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Wednesday rejectedUber’s request to halt all proceedings in the class action while itseeks an order overturning a judge’s Dec. 9 ruling that added morethan 100,000 drivers to the class action. A trial is set forJune.

“I think this is a strong statement that the Ninth Circuitbelieves this trial must go forward without delay,” ShannonLiss-Riordan, a lawyer for the drivers, said in a statement. “Weare looking forward to this trial.”

Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for Uber, said the company isawaiting a decision from the appeals court on a separate request toreview Chen’s orders on class action certification.

“If the case moves forward, we’ll look forward to presenting thefacts about how drivers use Uber with complete flexibility andcontrol over their work to a jury in June 2016,” Boutrous said in astatement.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco said on Dec. 22he won’t issue a final judgment affecting most drivers in the casefollowing a trial if the challenge to his order hasn’t beenresolved on appeal. The company had asked Chen to put the entirecase on hold while the appeal was pending.

In his Dec. 9 ruling, Chen concluded the company’s contract withits drivers improperly required them to resolve disputes througharbitration, preventing them from suing.

In the same decision, he allowed all drivers covered by the caseto seek expense reimbursement, including as much as 57 1/2 centsfor every mile driven. Chen had previously allowed the drivers toseek tips in the case.

A victory for the drivers seeking the pay and benefits ofemployees rather than independent contractors threatens to upendthe ride share company’s business model and cut into its more than$60 billion valuation. Experts have said the stakes in the lawsuitgrew by hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of the Decemberruling.

The case is O’Connor v. Uber Technologies Inc.,13-cv-03826, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California(San Francisco).

Related: Uber pushes new contract on drivers as pay fightescalates

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