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Nursing Home Patient Not Bound By Arbitration Agreement Signed By Family Member Who Lacked Authority In three recent rulings, the Northern District of Mississippi denied a nursing home’s motion to compel arbitration of a former patient’s claims because the nursing home could not establish that the family member signing the agreement had authority to act as the patient’s agent. In Mariner Healthcare, Inc. v. King, No. 4:04CV263, 2006 WL 1716863 (N.D. Miss. June 19, 2006), JPMorgan Chase & Co. v. Conegie, No. 4:05CV212, 2006 WL 1666686 (N.D. Miss. June 12, 2006), and Mariner Healthcare, Inc. v. Green, No. 4:04CV246, 2006 WL 1626581 (N.D. Miss. June 7, 2006), a nursing home moved to compel arbitration of a former patient’s claims pursuant to an arbitration agreement that had been signed by a family member on the patient’s behalf. The Court ruled that the arbitration agreement would be enforceable only if the nursing home could establish that the family member had authority to bind the patient to the arbitration agreement by demonstrating that (1) the patient expressly or impliedly granted such authority to the family member, (2) “the patient acted in a manner which would lead others to believe that the [family member] had apparent authority to act on her behalf,” or (3) the family member had statutory authority to bind the patient. In all three cases, the nursing home failed to demonstrate that the family member had actual or apparent authority to bind the patient. Also, the Court found that statutory authority was lacking based on its conclusion that a Mississippi statute allowing a surrogate to make “health-care decisions” for the patient would not apply to an arbitration agreement. Accordingly, in each instance, the Court denied the nursing home’s motion to compel arbitration.
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