Professional Negligence Law Reporter

A Kentucky appellate court held that a defendant nursing home’s motion to compel arbitration was properly denied where the home failed to establish the existence of a valid arbitration agreement.

Edd Roark was admitted to the Providence Pine Meadows nursing facility. At the time, his son, Keith, executed several documents on Roark’s behalf, including a voluntary arbitration agreement. On the signature line, Keith wrote “Keith Roark” and did not indicate that he was signing in his capacity as his father’s son or attorney in fact. Roark died the following year, and Keith filed suit against Pine Meadows and related entities, alleging negligence, wrongful death, and other claims. The defense moved to compel arbitration, but the trial court denied the motion.

Affirming, the appellate court acknowledged the state’s policy of favoring arbitration agreements. Citing case law, the court added that a party seeking to compel arbitration must establish the existence of a valid agreement to arbitrate. The court found that despite the defendants’ argument that Keith had signed as his father’s attorney in fact, the facts show that Keith had not designated he was signing in this capacity when signing his father’s admissions documents as “Keith Roark.” Moreover, the court said, Pine Meadows did not request that Keith clarify his role or representative capacity when signing the arbitration provisions, despite the fact that he had signed other documents as his father’s attorney in fact.

Despite public policy favoring arbitration, the court concluded, the defendants had failed to establish the existence of a valid arbitration agreement here and did not overcome the plaintiff’s assertion that he had not bound his father to arbitration.

Citation: Providence Healthcare of Pine Meadows, LLC v. Roark, 2020 WL 7086083 (Ky. Ct. App. Dec. 4, 2020).

Plaintiff counsel: Hannah R. Jamison, Lexington, Ky.