Professional Negligence Law Reporter

A South Carolina appellate court held that a trial court had correctly denied a nursing home’s motion to compel arbitration in a case where a man signed his mother’s admissions paperwork.

Mary Solesbee was admitted to Magnolia Manor-Inman. Her son signed her admissions paperwork, including an admission agreement and an arbitration agreement. Solesbee was not present when her son signed the documents. She died a little over a month later. Her estate sued the nursing home’s parent company and others, alleging claims for wrongful death and survival. The plaintiff asserted that Solesbee’s death resulted from a leg wound and infection that was not properly recognized and treated while she resided at Magnolia. The defense moved to compel arbitration, which the trial court denied on the basis that Solesbee’s son did not have actual or apparent authority to sign the arbitration agreement on his mother’s behalf.

Affirming, the appellate court noted that arbitration is a matter of contract and that a party cannot be required to arbitrate any dispute absent an agreement to do so. The court found that Solesbee’s son lacked authority to sign the arbitration agreement, reasoning that Solesbee had revoked her power of attorney more than two years before her admission. Moreover, the court found that the state’s Adult Health Care Consent Act is limited to health care decisions and provides no authority for separate contracts such as the arbitration agreement at issue here.

Consequently, the court concluded that the plaintiff’s lawsuit could proceed.

Citation: Bayne v. Fundamental Clinical Operational Servs., LLC, 2023 WL 379720 (S.C. Ct. App. Apr. 14, 2023).

Plaintiff counsel: Warren H. Christian Jr. and AAJ member Matthew W. Christian, both of Greenville, S.C.; and Jordan C. Calloway, Rock Hill, S.C.