The U.S. Supreme Court rules that West Virginia nursing home residents' families may be forced to arbitrate their negligence claims against the nursing homes because state public policy that prevents arbitration agreements from being enforced in negligence and personal injury cases is pre-empted by federal law promoting arbitration agreements. Marmet Health Care Center v. Brown (U.S., Nos. 11–391 and 11–394, Feb. 21, 2012).
When three West Virginia families admitted family members to nursing homes, they signed admission agreements that included arbitration clauses. The families eventually sued the nursing homes for negligence that allegedly resulted in the nursing home residents' deaths. The nursing homes moved to compel arbitration.
The trial court dismissed the cases based on the agreements to arbitrate. The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals reversed, holding that as a matter of West Virginia public policy, an arbitration agreement that was signed before an act of negligence cannot be used to compel arbitration in a negligence dispute. The court also determined that the Federal Arbitration Agreement (FAA) does not pre-empt this public policy because the FAA does not apply to personal injury or negligence cases when the arbitration agreement was signed before the negligence occurred. The nursing home appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a per curiam decision, The U.S. Supreme Court reverses, holding that the FAA does not include an exception for personal injury and negligence cases. According to the Court, the state's "prohibition against predispute agreements to arbitrate personal-injury or wrongful-death claims against nursing homes is a categorical rule prohibiting arbitration of a particular type of claim, and that rule is contrary to the terms and coverage of the FAA." The Court remands the case to the state court to determine whether the arbitration clauses are unenforceable under state common law principles rather than general public policy.
For the full text of this decision in PDF, go to: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-391.pdf.
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