A California appellate court recently upheld a lower court’s decision denying a nursing home’s motion to compel arbitration. Root v. Emeritus Corp., No. A134748 (Cal. App. 1st Dist. May 17, 2013). (Click here for a copy of the opinion.) An elderly resident died after falling in a courtyard, and she had been allegedly left outside unattended. Her family brought suit against the nursing home, and the nursing home asked the court to enforce an arbitration agreement signed by the decedent’s daughter. The lower court and appellate court both refused to enforce the arbitration agreement because the power of attorney appointing the daughter was not valid under California law since it was not notarized or acknowledged by witnesses. Also, the courts found there was no evidence that the daughter was acting as an actual or apparent agent of the decedent when signing the arbitration agreement.
The nursing home also asked for additional time to attempt to locate a properly-executed power of attorney. However, the appellate court found that the nursing home should have tried to locate this document prior to filing a motion to compel arbitration.