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Springhill Nursing Homes9/24/2004
These appeals are from the denial of a motion to compel arbitration. We affirm.
On February 26, 2002, Melda McCurdy sued Springhill Nursing Homes, Inc., doing business as the Springhill Senior Residence ("Springhill"); Thomas K. Steiner, the administrator of Springhill; Majesta Lang, a registered nurse employed by Springhill; and Shirley Webb, a Springhill employee. McCurdy alleged that the defendants were health-care providers whose negligent or wanton failure to provide her with proper health care while she was residing at Springhill had caused her personal injury . She also alleged as to Springhill and Steiner that they had injured her by negligently hiring and supervising employees at Springhill. On May 16, 2003, McCurdy amended her complaint to add four other Springhill employees as defendants and to add a claim alleging breach of contract.
The record reveals that McCurdy was discharged from Springhill Hospital on August 27, 2001; her diagnosis on discharge from the hospital was hypertension, chronic severe anxiety disorder, hypothyroidism, and numbness on her left side. She was to be directly admitted to Springhill for rehabilitation following a stroke. She was admitted to Springhill at approximately 12:30 p.m. She asserts that employees of Springhill would not give her her blood-pressure medication and that they refused her access to a telephone and that for those reasons she left the facility the morning after she was admitted, without the consent of her physician.
On June 26, 2003, the defendants' lawyer wrote a letter to McCurdy's lawyer stating that the defendants would seek to compel arbitration of McCurdy's claims based on an arbitration clause contained in Springhill's standard "Admission & Financial Contract" ("the admission contract"), a copy of which was enclosed with the letter. On July 2, 2003, the defendants filed their motion to compel arbitration, arguing that by asserting a breach-of-contract claim McCurdy was alleging that she and the defendants had "entered into a contract," and she was apparently relying on "the contract she would have been required to sign" had she remained a patient at Springhill. McCurdy countered in her motion opposing arbitration that her claim "alleging a breach of contract is not based on an express written agreement; rather, the basis the allegation is the existence of an implied contract." The motion to compel arbitration was briefed, and the trial court held a hearing on the motion on August 15, 2003; on the same day, McCurdy filed a motion to dismiss her breach-of-contract claim. On August 19, 2003, the trial court contacted the defendants' lawyer and requested that he draft an order denying the motion to compel arbitration. Although the resulting proposed order reflected a date of August 15, 2003, the defendants' lawyer notified the McCurdy's lawyer of the trial court's decision by a letter dated August 20, 2003, and submitted the proposed order to the trial court on August 22, 2003. The trial court granted McCurdy's motion to dismiss her breach-of-contract claim on August 25, 2003. The trial court entered the order denying the motion to compel arbitration by filing it with the circuit clerk on September 2, 2003. Springhill and Steiner appealed the denial of their motion to compel arbitration pursuant to Rule 4(d), Ala.R.App.P., on August 28, 2003.
"The standard of review for a ruling on a motion to compel arbitration is as follows:
"'"'This Court reviews de novo the [grant or] denial of a motion to compel arbitration. Parkway Dodge, Inc. v. Yarbrough, 779 So. 2d 1205 (Ala. 2000). A motion to compel arbitration is analogous to a motion for a summary judgment. TranSouth Fin. Corp. v. Bell, 739 S
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