Opinion ID: 2077530
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Decision to Sign the Arbitration Agreement vs. Health Care Decision

Text: If the Estate is to be bound by the arbitration agreement, the decision to sign the agreement must have been within the scope of the authority that Bradley conferred on Dickerson. The parties have focused on Dickerson's authority to make health care decisions on Bradley's behalf, so we shall determine whether the decision to sign the arbitration agreement was within that authority. We have explained previously that the decision to enter into an arbitration agreement primarily concerns the signatory's decision to waive his or her right of access to the courts and right to a trial by jury. See Walther v. Sovereign Bank, 386 Md. 412, 443, 872 A.2d 735, 754 (2005) (explaining that the `loss of the right to a jury trial is a necessary and fairly obvious consequence of an agreement to arbitrate')(quoting Sydnor v. Conseco Fin. Servicing Corp., 252 F.3d 302, 307 (4th Cir.2001)). We have further explained that arbitration agreements are standard not only in insurance contracts but in construction contracts, employment agreements, and a variety of other contracts. Walther, 386 Md. at 443-44, 872 A.2d at 754 (quoting Meyer v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co., 85 Md.App. 83, 91, 582 A.2d 275, 278-79 (1990)). Quite obviously, the decision to sign an arbitration agreement is not, in and of itself, a health care decision. [15] It may sometimes be related to a health care decision, as in the present case where the arbitration agreement was included with the admissions documents for a health care facility and would require arbitration of health care claims. Subject to the limitations we discuss below, however, the decision to sign an arbitration agreement is a decision concerning the legal rights of the parties to the agreement about how to resolve their legal disputes, not a health care decision. Although we have never addressed this issue, other courts have drawn a distinction between a health care decision and a decision to sign an arbitration agreement, even where the arbitration agreement is related to a health care decision. In several cases involving health care facilities, the intermediate appellate courts in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, and Texas have concluded that the authority to make health care decisions on another's behalf does not constitute authority to sign an arbitration agreement on that person's behalf. See Lujan v. Life Care Ctrs. of Am., 222 P.3d 970, 973-76 (Colo.Ct.App.2009) (agreeing with other jurisdictions that have concluded that a health care proxy's decision to agree to arbitrate is [not] a medical treatment decision); Blankfeld v. Richmond Health Care, Inc., 902 So.2d 296, 301 (Fla.Ct.App.2005) (There is nothing in the [health care proxy] statute to indicate legislative intent that such a proxy can enter into contracts which agree to things not strictly related to health care decisions. In our opinion, a proxy is not authorized to waive the right to trial by jury. ...); Life Care Ctrs. of Am. v. Smith, 298 Ga.App. 739, 681 S.E.2d 182, 185 (2009) (concluding that a health care power of attorney did not give [a daughter] the power to sign away her mother's or her mother's legal representative's right to a jury trial); Tex. Cityview Care Ctr., L.P. v. Fryer, 227 S.W.3d 345, 352 (Tex.Ct. App.2007) ([N]othing in the medical power of attorney indicates that it was intended to confer authority ... to make legal, as opposed to health care, decisions ..., such as whether to waive [the] right to a jury trial by agreeing to arbitration of any disputes.). Those courts drew a distinction between making health care decisions and the decision to sign an arbitration agreement, even when an arbitration agreement is related to health care. [16] In our view, however, there are circumstances upon which the decision to sign an arbitration agreement may be a health care decision. Courts in other jurisdictions have recently concluded that the decision to sign an arbitration agreement was not a health care decision, and they based that decision on the fact that signing the arbitration agreement was not a prerequisite to admission to a health care facility. In Koricic, as we noted earlier, the Supreme Court of Nebraska concluded that a son who had authority to sign health care documents on behalf of his mother did not have authority to sign an arbitration agreement on her behalf. 773 N.W.2d at 149-52. In reaching that decision, the court explained that the decision to sign the arbitration agreement was not within the son's authority because the agreement was optional and was not required for [the mother] to remain at the [nursing home] facility. Id. at 151. Similarly, the Supreme Court of Mississippi concluded in Hinyub that the decision to sign an arbitration agreement is not a health care decision where the patient or his agent was not required to sign the arbitration provision to admit [the patient] to the [health care facility]. 975 So.2d at 218. The Mississippi court drew a distinction between Hinyub's case and previous cases in which the arbitration provision was an essential part of the consideration for the receipt of `health care.' Id. (citing Covenant Health Rehab of Picayune, L.P. v. Brown, 949 So.2d 732 (Miss.2007), and Vicksburg Partners, L.P. v. Stephens, 911 So.2d 507 (Miss.2005)). We agree with the reasoning of those courts. The decision to sign a free-standing arbitration agreement is not a health care decision if the patient may receive health care without signing the arbitration agreement. In such a case, the decision primarily concerns the legal rights of the patient with respect to resolving legal claims. If signing the arbitration agreement is necessary to receive health care, then the decision to sign the agreement is a health care decision because the receipt of health care depends on whether the patient agrees to arbitrate his or her claims. In that case, the decision to sign the arbitration agreement is effectively a decision about where and whether to receive health care, either from a facility that requires the patient to sign an arbitration agreement, from a facility that does not impose such a requirement, or from no facility at all. [17] We now turn to the decision to sign the arbitration agreement in the present case and whether that was a health care decision within the scope of Dickerson's authority to act on Bradley's behalf. As Respondent points out, the arbitration agreement in this case is a free-standing contract, separate from the agreement to admit Bradley to Respondent's facility. The arbitration agreement explicitly states that the execution of this arbitration agreement is not a precondition to the furnishing of services to the Resident of the Facility. Indeed, Bradley or his authorized agent presumably could have refused to sign the arbitration agreement without any effect whatsoever on Bradley's health care. Thus, the decision to enter into the arbitration agreement was not a health care decision; instead, it primarily concerned Bradley's waiver of his right of access to the courts and his right to a trial by jury. There is no evidence suggesting that Bradley conferred on Dickerson the authority to waive Bradley's right of access to the courts and right to a jury by signing an arbitration agreement on his behalf. Accordingly, we conclude that Dickerson did not have actual authority to sign the arbitration agreement. Even if we assume that Dickerson held herself out as Bradley's agent for purposes of general legal decisions, our decision would be the same. The trial court and Respondent both placed significant weight on the fact that Dickerson signed documents on Bradley's behalf. As we have explained, however, an agent cannot extend his or her own authority beyond the authority granted to him or her by the principal. P. Flanigan, 251 Md. at 654, 248 A.2d at 477. The fact that Dickerson referred to herself as Bradley's legal power of attorney does not expand her authority, absent some evidence that Bradley authorized this statement, adopted it, or acquiesced to it. The fact that Dickerson signed the arbitration agreement at issue in this case certainly does not alter Dickerson's authority, as there is no evidence suggesting that Bradley authorized Dickerson to make this type of decision on his behalf. [18] Furthermore, the evidence suggests that Bradley was unaware that Dickerson had signed the arbitration agreement on his behalf when he was admitted to St. Thomas More, so he never had an opportunity to object to that action. It also appears that Respondent took no action to determine whether Dickerson actually had authority to sign the arbitration agreement on Bradley's behalf, which was Respondent's responsibility. [19] Id. Regardless of how she held herself out to others, Dickerson could not expand her own authority and bind Bradley to the arbitration agreement.