An arbitration agreement signed by a woman’s romantic partner when she was admitted to a nursing home is not enforceable because the woman had not given her significant other the power to act as an agent on her behalf, a Philadelphia judge said in an opinion issued earlier this fall.
In his opinion, Judge Arnold L. New said he overruled the preliminary objections asserted by Manor Care Health Services of the Mercy Health System and HCR Manor Care Inc. because the woman’s significant other was not in an agency relationship with her through which he could bind her to arbitration.
