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In The Cases, Which Involve Wrongful Death Actions Brought On Behalf Of Residents In The Nursing Home, Briarcliff Moved To Force Arbitration
NCCNHR, in conjunction with AARP and the Alabama Silver-Haired Legislature, filed an amicus curiae brief in Briarcliff Nursing Home, Inc. v. Turcotte and Briarcliff Nursing Home, Inc. v. Woodman, asking the Supreme Court of Alabama to rehear the two cases in which it upheld mandatory arbitration clauses in admissions contracts. In the cases, which involve wrongful death actions brought on behalf of residents in the nursing home, Briarcliff moved to force arbitration according to a clause in the residents’ admissions contracts. The trial court had denied the provider’s motion to force arbitration, and the nursing home appealed.
The state Supreme Court reversed the decision of the trial court. It determined that the families were seeking to impose duties that arose from the admissions contracts and “stood in the shoes” of their deceased family members; therefore, they were bound by the arbitration clause in the contracts. In its decision favoring Briarcliff, the court held that the nursing home did not have overwhelming bargaining power, the arbitration clause was not unconscionable, and the terms of the clause were not grossly favorable to either party. The court also found that the families had not shown that they were unable to find a nursing home that did not require arbitration without considerable expenditure of time and resources, nor that they did not have access to a facility outside the county in which they lived or to in-home care.
NCCNHR’s amicus argues in support of the families that due to the circumstances that typically surround the nursing home admissions process – which include vulnerable individuals and families in crisis without reasonable choices – such admission contracts are unconscionable and one-sided. “In such an environment it is unlikely that residents or their family members would know that the contract contained an arbitration clause or comprehend its meaning and consequences,” the brief says.
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