Summary
The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of a nursing-facility defendants’ motion to compel arbitration in a wrongful-death and negligence action. The court held that the arbitration agreement was unenforceable because it failed to identify Mary Etta Walker as the resident or party to the agreement, and it declined to reach the issues concerning the scope of the durable power of attorney.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the arbitration agreement was an enforceable agreement to arbitrate when it did not identify Mary Etta Walker as the resident or party to the arbitration agreement.
- Whether the admission agreement could supply the missing identification of the resident in the separate arbitration agreement.
- Whether Grant's durable health-care power of attorney authorized him to execute the arbitration agreement on Walker's behalf.
Holdings
- The arbitration agreement was unenforceable because it failed to identify Mary Etta Walker as the resident or otherwise establish the identities of the parties to the agreement.
- The court rejected the argument that Walker was deemed identified in the arbitration agreement because she was identified as the resident in the admission agreement.
- The court did not reach the scope of Grant's power of attorney because the arbitration agreement was independently unenforceable for failing to identify the parties.
Key quotations
“Construing the arbitration agreement most strongly against appellants, we affirm the trial court’s finding that the arbitration agreement is unenforceable because it fails to identify Mary as the “Resident.”” (at 9)
“We hold that appellants failed in their burden to prove that the arbitration agreement was executed on Mary’s behalf because she is not identified therein, and we reject appellants’ argument that Mary was deemed identified in the arbitration agreement because she was identified in the admission agreement.” (at 10)
Factual background
Mary Etta Walker was admitted to Robinson Nursing & Rehabilitation Center on July 1, 2019. Her son, Rick Grant, signed an admission agreement and an arbitration agreement as the resident's responsible party, identifying his relationship as "Son/POA." Although Walker was identified as the resident in the admission agreement, her name did not appear in the arbitration agreement, and the space for the undersigned resident was blank. Walker later died, and Grant brought negligence and medical-negligence claims alleging injuries from repeated falls, dehydration, severe weight loss, and premature death.
Procedural history
Rick Grant, as personal representative of Mary Etta Walker's estate and on behalf of the wrongful-death beneficiaries, sued the nursing-facility appellants for negligence and medical negligence. The appellants moved to compel arbitration based on an arbitration agreement signed by Grant during Walker's admission. The Pulaski County Circuit Court denied the motion, and the Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed.