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[W] MN Medinvest Co.5/25/2005
The Appellants challenge the non-final order denying their motion to stay and/or to compel arbitration of the claims filed against them by Terrana Nichols (the Mother), as personal representative of the estate of her deceased minor daughter. In the order, the trial court found that the Mother did not have authority to waive her minor daughter's constitutional right to a jury trial by signing a contract for her daughter's medical care that contained an arbitration clause. We reverse.
The Mother entered into a contract with the Appellants' nursing home for the care for her severely injured daughter. The contract contained an optional arbitration clause that called for the signatories to mark through the clause with an x if they did not wish to include the arbitration provision in the contract. The Mother signed the contract without marking through the clause. The director of admissions for the nursing home testified that the Mother's initials on the page of the contract containing the arbitration clause signified that the entire page had been explained to her. The Mother identified her signature on the contract, but she testified that she could not remember anyone explaining the contract or the arbitration clause to her. She stated that it was a very stressful time for her, and she could not concentrate during the admissions process.
The daughter died a month after she left the nursing home. The Mother filed an action against the Appellants alleging causes of action pursuant to Chapter 400, Florida Statutes (2000), and for negligence, wrongful death, and breach of fiduciary duty. The Appellants filed a motion to stay and/or to compel arbitration pursuant to the contract signed by the Mother. At the hearing on the Appellants' motion, the trial court stated that it read Shea v. Global Travel Marketing, Inc., 870 So. 2d 20 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003), to require denial of the motion. The trial court misread Shea.
In Shea, the Fourth District had before it an issue of first impression in Florida of whether a parent can bind her child to an agreement to arbitrate. The trial court had granted a motion to compel arbitration of claims against a touring company for the death of a minor during an African safari. The child's mother had signed a contract with the company on behalf of herself as well as the child. The contract called for arbitration of any claims she or her son might have against the company. The child's father, as personal representative of the child's estate, brought a wrongful death action against the company. The company responded by seeking to compel arbitration pursuant to the contract signed by the mother.
The Fourth District stated that public policy determines whether a parent can contract on behalf of her child. After setting forth statutory and case law examples of Florida's public policy favoring the protection of minors, id. at 24, the court proceeded to distinguish a parent's authority to contract for their children's medical care and for their children to participate in "commonplace child oriented community or school supported activities." Id. at 25. With regard to what it called the medical service or medical insurance exception, the Fourth District explained as follows:
Florida does, however, recognize that parents have authority to contract for their children when it comes to medical care. Variety Children's Hosp., Inc. v. Vigliotti, 385 So.2d 1052 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980). Patently, there is a common sense basis for such medical service or medical insurance exception.
The California Supreme Court recognized the need for this exception in Doyle v. Giuliucci, 62 Cal.2d 606, 43 Cal.Rptr. 697, 401 P.2d 1 (1965). There, the court held t
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