A signatory can bind a non-signatory as a third-party beneficiary to an arbitration agreement in a health care admissions contract, if the sole purpose of the contract is to provide services to the non-signatory, according to the Mississippi Court of Appeals.

In Trinity Mission Health & Rehabilitation of Clinton v. Estate of Scott ex rel. Johnson, No. 2006-CA-01053-COA, 2008 WL 73682 (Miss. Ct. App. Jan. 8, 2008), Johnson admitted her mother, Scott, to Trinity's nursing home facility. Later, Johnson executed Trinity's amended admissions contract, which included an arbitration agreement, on her mother's behalf.

Scott died while in Trinity's care, and Johnson filed a wrongful death action. Trinity moved to compel arbitration of the claim, but the trial court denied the motion.

On appeal, Trinity argued that Johnson had authority to bind Scott to the arbitration agreement because Scott was a third-party beneficiary of the admissions contract. The Court found the admission contract's main purpose was to bind Trinity to provide health care services to Scott, a benefit clearly within the contract containing the arbitration agreement. Therefore, even though Scott did not sign the contract, she was both entitled to its benefits and bound to its obligations, including the obligation to arbitrate.

Since Scott would have been bound to arbitrate her claims against Trinity, Johnson was likewise bound within the scope of the arbitration agreement.

The Court soundly rejected Johnson's contention that a non-signatory could never be bound to arbitrate health care claims under Grenada Living Ctr., LLC v. Coleman, 961 So.2d 33 (Miss. 2007). Unlike Grenada, this Court could not find evidence of a stipulation by the signatory at trial that she had no authority to "speak for" the third-party beneficiary.