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The Texas Court of Appeals held that a daughter lacked authority to enter an arbitration agreement on her mother's behalf even though there was a Medical Power of Attorney (M-POA) authorizing the daughter to make health care decisions for her mother. In reaching its holding, the Court reasoned that the M-POA did not confer authority to make "legal" decisions.
In Texas Cityview Care Center, L.P. v. Fryer, Nos. 2-06-373-CV, 2-06-426-CV, 2007 WL 1502088 (Tex. App. May 24, 2007), Fryer and her sisters sued Texas Cityview Care Center (TCCC) for medical malpractice after the death of their mother, Frances Emmons.
One of the sisters – co-plaintiff Mitzi Griffin – had been granted M-POA, and signed an arbitration agreement upon Emmons' admission to the nursing home. Accordingly, TCCC moved to compel arbitration. The trial court denied the motion.
On appeal, the Court gave two reasons for rejecting TCCC's argument that the M-POA gave Griffin authority to sign an arbitration agreement on Emmons' behalf. First, the M-POA only became effective when a doctor certified Emmons to be incompetent, and since this had not occurred, the M-POA was not in effect.
Second, even if the M-POA had been in effect, nothing in the M-POA indicated that it was intended to confer authority on Griffin to make "legal, as opposed to health care," decisions for Emmons. As such, the Court held that the scope of Griffin's authority would not have reached the arbitration agreement.
Since no valid agreement existed, the Court affirmed the order denying TCCC's motion to compel arbitration.
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