Justia Arkansas Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Articles Posted in Arbitration & Mediation
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Jessie and Annie Bullock were residents of Courtyard Gardens, a nursing-home facility. Linda Gulley, the Bullocks’ daughter, entered admission agreements and optional arbitration agreements on behalf of each parent. After Jessie died, Malinda Arnold, as personal representative of Jessie’s estate and as attorney-in-fact of Annie, filed a complaint against Courtyard Gardens, alleging, inter alia, negligence and medical malpractice. Courtyard Gardens moved to dismiss the complaint and compel arbitration. The circuit court denied the motion to compel arbitration, concluding that the arbitration agreement was impossible to perform because it selected the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) to serve as arbitrator, and the NAF was no longer in business. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the NAF term was merely an ancillary logistical concern and was severable; and (2) therefore, the circuit court erred in denying Courtyard Gardens’ motion to compel arbitration based on impossibility of performance. View "Courtyard Gardens Health & Rehab. LLC v. Arnold" on Justia Law

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Daimante, LLC was the operator of a golf course that contained two subdivisions. Gary and Linda Dye, property owners within one subdivision, filed a declaratory-judgment complaint seeking a declaration that certain obligations and restrictions were unenforceable. Diamante moved to compel arbitration with the Dyes. The court of appeals affirmed the circuit court’s denial of the motion to compel arbitration, finding that Diamante had waived arbitration by unnecessary delay that prejudiced the Dyes. Class members were subsequently added to the lawsuit upon class certification and filed a second amended motion for declaratory judgment. The circuit court denied Diamante’s motion to compel arbitration based on the court’s previous ruling. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the court of appeals’ decision was not conclusive on the issue of whether Diamante had waived arbitration as to the class members who were subsequently added to the lawsuit, and therefore, this argument does not compel dismissal of this appeal; and (2) because the circuit court did not issue on order as to whether there was a valid agreement to arbitrate between Diamante and the unnamed class members, the case must be reversed for the circuit court to make that determination. View "Diamante LLC v. Dye" on Justia Law

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Entergy Arkansas, Inc. and Entergy Operations, Inc. (collectively, “Entergy”) entered into an agreement with Siemens Energy, Inc. (“Siemens”) under which Siemens was to provide Entergy with services at three nuclear facilities. The agreement included an arbitration provision. Pursuant to the agreement, Entergy and Siemens agreed that Siemens would replace a large component of a generator at Entergy’s Arkansas Nuclear One (“ANO”) facility. Siemens had a separate, long-term agreement with Bigge Crane and Rigging Co. and Claus Frederiksen (collectively, “Bigge”) under which Bigge would prove crane services for Siemens at ANO. After a crane built and operated by Bigge collapsed at ANO, killing one person, injuring ten others, and causing significant damages to ANO, Entergy filed suit against Bigge and others, alleging several tort claims. Bigge moved to compel arbitration of Entergy’s claims against Bigge as a purported third-party beneficiary of the agreement between Entergy and Siemens. The circuit court denied Bigge’s motion. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court did not err in concluding (1) that, under the facts of this case, issues of arbitrability were matters for judicial determination; and (2) that Bigge could not invoke arbitration. View "Bigge Crane & Rigging Co. v. Entergy Ark. Inc." on Justia Law

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Appellee, Peter Rosenow, brought a class-action complaint individually and on behalf of similarly situated persons against Appellants, Alltel Corporation and Alltel Communications, Inc. (collectively, Alltel), alleging violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and unjust enrichment arising from Alltel’s imposition of an early termination fee on its cellular-phone customers. Alltel filed a motion seeking to compel arbitration based on an arbitration clause contained in its “Terms and Conditions.” The circuit court denied the motion, concluding that Alltel’s arbitration provision lacked mutuality. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court did not err in finding that a lack of mutuality rendered the instant arbitration agreement invalid.View "Alltel Corp. v. Rosenow" on Justia Law

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Shirley Henry, as special administrator of the Estate of Lucill Betncourt, filed a complaint against a nursing-home facility (Woodland Hills) asserting, among other claims, negligence, medical malpractice, and violations of the Arkansas Long-Term Care Residents’ Act. Woodland Hills moved to dismiss and to compel arbitration of these claims, relying on arbitration clauses found in the admission agreements that Betncourt, Betncourt’s husband, and Henry signed when Betncourt entered the facility eight times in a four-year period. The circuit court denied Woodland Hills’ motion to dismiss and compel arbitration, concluding that mutuality of obligation was lacking. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the arbitration clause offended the law requiring mutuality of obligation and could not be enforced because Woodland Hills reserved the right to litigate billing or collection disputes and thus excluded from arbitration the only claim it might have against a resident.View "Reg'l Care of Jacksonville, LLC v. Henry" on Justia Law

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Plaintiff filed a medical-malpractice action for injuries allegedly sustained by his wife while she was a resident at Defendant’s nursing home. Defendant filed a motion to compel arbitration and for dismissal, asserting that the case was controlled by a valid arbitration agreement. The circuit court entered a general denial order denying the motion to compel arbitration. Defendant subsequently filed a timely motion for specific findings of fact and conclusions of law. The circuit court did not rule on the motion, and it was deemed denied. Defendant appealed. The court of appeals dismissed the appeal as untimely. The Supreme Court vacated the court of appeals and affirmed the circuit court’s denial of Defendant’s motion to compel arbitration, holding that the circuit court did not err in denying Defendant’s motion to compel arbitration.View "Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Soc’y v. Kolesar" on Justia Law

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Asset Acceptance, LLC filed a complaint against Amy Newby, alleging that Newby had received a credit card from Asset and that her account was past due and remained unpaid. Newby asserted counterclaims against Asset. Asset subsequently filed a motion to compel arbitration, claiming that the credit card was issued to Newby by Chase Bank and was subject to a cardholder agreement that contained an arbitration provision. The circuit court denied the motion, concluding that Asset had waived its right to arbitration by filing its complaint in the circuit court. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court did not err in (1) denying Asset’s motion to compel arbitration, and (2) denying sanctions against Asset pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 11. View "Asset Acceptance LLC v. Newby" on Justia Law

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Appellees filed a class-action complaint against a Bank, asserting several claims arising from the Bank’s alleged practice of manipulating customers’ checking-account debit transactions to maximize the amount of overdraft fees charged to each customer. The Bank filed a motion to dismiss, or alternatively, a motion to compel arbitration based on an arbitration provision contained in the Deposit Agreement attached to Appellees’ complaint. In response, Appellees denied the existence of a valid arbitration agreement. The circuit court denied Bank’s motion, ruling that the arbitration provision was unconscionable and, thus, unenforceable. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that because the circuit court did not find that there was a valid arbitration agreement, the case must be remanded to the circuit court to determine whether there was a valid agreement to arbitrate between the parties. View "Bank of the Ozarks, Inc. v. Walker" on Justia Law

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Appellee, as special administrator of the estate of Rufus Owens and on behalf of the wrongful death beneficiaries of Owens, filed a lawsuit against Pine Hills Health and Rehabilitation, LLC and others for injuries Owens sustained during his care and treatment at Pine Hills. Appellants moved to dismiss the complaint and compel arbitration pursuant to an arbitration agreement. Appellee argued that the arbitration agreement was unenforceable because there was no evidence of mutual assent where the agreement was signed by Appellee as the "responsible party" but did not bear the signature of a representative of Pine Hills. The circuit court denied the motion to compel arbitration. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that there was no objective evidence of mutual assent, and therefore, the arbitration agreement was unenforceable. View "Pine Hills Health & Rehab., LLC v. Matthews" on Justia Law

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Decedent was a resident of Searcy Healthcare Center (SHC) from January 7 to January 29. On January 8, Decedent executed a written arbitration agreement with SHC that was binding on Decedent's children, personal representatives, and administrators of Decedent's estate. Decedent died on February 12. The next year, Appellee filed a nursing-home-malpractice action against SHC as administrator of Decedent's estate and on behalf of the statutory wrongful-death beneficiaries. The circuit court denied SHC's motion to compel arbitration against the wrongful-death beneficiaries, concluding that Decedent had not extinguished the substantive rights of the wrongful-death beneficiaries by signing the arbitration agreement. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the circuit court erred as a matter of law in finding that the wrongful-death beneficiaries were not bound by the arbitration agreement executed by Decedent. Remanded. View "Searcy Healthcare Ctr., LLC v. Murphy" on Justia Law