Arbitration agreement surviving death of signatory
In the 2013 case Laizure vs. Avante at Leesburg, Inc. (SC10-2132), the Florida Supreme Court had to consider whether a nursing home patient’s agreement to arbitrate all claims against a nursing home applied to the heirs of the patient in bringing a wrongful death claim against the facility. The Supreme Court ruled that the arbitration agreement applied to the wrongful death action.
After undergoing a surgery, Harry Lee Stewart entered into a nursing home to receive rehabilitation. In order to be admitted to the facility, Stewart had to sign an arbitration agreement that required patients to arbitrate any claim made against the nursing home. Quickly after his admittance to the nursing home, Stewart died. His personal representative, Debra Laziure, then filed a wrongful death suit and alleged that the nursing home violated the Florida Nursing Home Resident’s Rights Act.
According to the arbitration agreement, the claims include “breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud or misrepresentation, common law or statutory negligence, gross negligence, malpractice or a claim based on any departure from accepted standards of medical or nursing care, where the alleged damages exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000).”
The Court ruled that the claim of negligence is arbitrable and the agreement also applied to the estate of Stewart.
