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Patient bound by arbitration agreement not translated into Spanish

January/February 2024

A Massachusetts appellate court held that an arbitration agreement between a patient and surgeon was valid notwithstanding the physician’s failure to translate the agreement into Spanish.

Carlos Lopez Rivera signed an arbitration agreement before undergoing eye surgery with physician Steven Stetson. Lopez Rivera later sued Stetson in state court. The defendant moved to dismiss and to compel arbitration, but the trial court denied the motion on the basis that the defendant had failed to translate the arbitration agreement into Spanish and that this amounted to fraud in the inducement.

Reversing, the appellate court found that based on the totality of the circumstances, the parties had formed a valid arbitration agreement. It found the plaintiff had reasonable notice of and had assented to the agreement, which included a section allowing him to refuse to sign it. His lack of facility with English does not warrant a different result, the court said, noting that Lopez Rivera had lived in Massachusetts for 12 years at the time of surgery and understood limited English. Citing case law, the court added that absent fraud, one who signs a written agreement is bound by its terms regardless of whether he or she has read the agreement.

The court also held that there was no evidence of fraud by the defendant or anyone in his office. Fraud, the court said, requires proof that one party made a materially false statement to induce action by the other. Here, Lopez Rivera had signed the documents on the day of surgery in a small setting in which a technician explained the procedure’s risks and benefits.

Thus, the court held that the trial court had erred in denying the defendant’s motion to compel arbitration.

Citation: Rivera v. Stetson, 218 N.E.3d 55 (Mass. App. Ct. 2023).