FIVE POINTS HEALTH CARE, LTD., D/B/A LAKESIDE, NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER, APPELLANT,
v.
CARLENE MALLORY, AS NEXT FRIEND OF ALFREDA MALLORY, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 2008-12-31
No. 1D08-3383
DAVIS and HAWKES, JJ., concur.
998 So. 2d 1180 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2008) Positive Treatment
Cited by 7 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

A nursing home appeals an order denying its motion to compel arbitration of a resident's rights lawsuit. The court held that the resident's daughter, acting under a broad durable power of attorney, had authority to bind the resident to an arbitration agreement in the nursing home admission contract.


Holding

The court held that the durable power of attorney's broad grant of general authority, combined with explicit powers to settle legal claims and manage the principal's estate and affairs, authorized the attorney-in-fact to consent to arbitration. The trial court's narrow interpretation requiring express authorization for arbitration was erroneous as a matter of law.


Headnotes

[1] A durable power of attorney granting broad, general authority to an attorney-in-fact to manage the principal's affairs may authorize the attorney-in-fact to consent to ar…

[2] The interpretation of a durable power of attorney is a question of law subject to de novo review.

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Key Quotes

“All acts done by my attorney-in-fact pursuant to this power shall bind me, my heirs, devisees and personal representatives; provided, however, that all such acts performed hereunder shall be for my benefit only and not for the benefit of my attorney-in-fact.”

Establishes the binding nature of acts by the attorney-in-fact and the scope of authority granted in the POA

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Facts & Procedural History

Alfreda Mallory's daughter, Carlene Mallory, held a durable power of attorney granting her broad authority over her mother's estate and affairs, inclu…

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Opinion of the Court
BARFIELD, J.

BARFIELD, J.

In this appeal, a nursing home challenges an order denying its motion to compel arbitration in a nursing home resident’s rights lawsuit filed by Carlene Mallory, as next friend of her mother, Alfreda Mallory. We reverse.

The nursing home admission agreement which contained the arbitration clause was signed by Carlene Mallory under the durable power of attorney (POA) granted her by her mother. The “Durable Power of Attorney” signed by Alfreda Mallory a year before she was admitted to the nursing home stated, in part:

All acts done by my attorney-in-fact pursuant to this power shall bind me, my heirs, devisees and personal representatives; provided, however, that all such acts performed hereunder shall be for my benefit only and not for the benefit of my attorney-in-fact.

The POA listed seventeen paragraphs specifying the powers of the attorney-in-fact, one of which stated that the attorney-in-fact was authorized to: “Prosecute, defend and settle all actions or other legal proceeding touching my estate or any part of it or touching any matter in which I may be concerned in any way.” The seventeenth paragraph authorized the attorney-in-fact to: “Do anything regarding my estate, property and affairs that I could do for myself.”

The proper interpretation of the POA is a question of law subject to de novo review. See Alterra Healthcare Corp. v. Bryant, 937 So. 2d 263, 268 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006), rev. denied, 956 So. 2d 455 (Fla.2007). We find that the trial court’s interpretation of the POA at issue is erroneous as a matter of law.

The trial court denied the nursing home’s motion to compel arbitration, finding that the POA signed by Alfreda Mallory “does not contain any provision granting any power to enter into an arbitration agreement” and therefore that the arbitration clause of the admission agreement “may not be enforced against Alfreda Mallory.” The order cited In re Estate of McKibbin, 977 So. 2d 612 (Fla. 2d DCA), rev. denied, Alterra Health Care Corp. v. Estate of McKibbin, 987 So. 2d 79 (Fla. 2008), and Fletcher v. Huntington Place Limited Partnership, 952 So. 2d 1225 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007).1

We find neither of the cases cited by the trial court to be dispositive of the issue presented by this appeal. However, we find persuasive Jaylene, Inc. v. Moots, 995 So. 2d 566 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008), in which the Second District Court of Appeal declined to follow its prior opinion in McKib-bin, noting that “the opinion in McKibbin does not set forth the language of the power of attorney under review in that case” and “is not controlling here where the POA unambiguously makes a broad, general grant of authority to the attorney-in-fact.” Id. at 570. In Jaylene, the court reversed an order denying a motion to compel arbitration in circumstances similar to the case at issue. It observed:

The POA does not contain any provision specifically granting the attorney-in-fact the power to consent to arbitration or to waive the decedent’s right to a jury trial. Nevertheless, the grant of authority to the attorney-in-fact under the POA is extremely broad and unambiguous.

The POA unequivocally expresses the principal’s intent to make a comprehensive grant of authority to the attorney-in-fact. We conclude that the grant of authority in the POA was broad enough to authorize the attorney-in-fact to consent to arbitrate claims arising out of the Agreement....

... Here, the power to consent to arbitrate the principal’s claims was not one of the powers specifically listed in the extensive list of powers explicitly granted. Nevertheless, the POA also provided that ‘[t]he listing of specific powers is not intended to limit or restrict the general powers granted in this Power of Attorney in any manner’. (Emphasis added.) In light of this provision, Ms. Moots’ argument that the absence of an express grant of authority to arbitrate in the POA compels a restrictive interpretation precluding the authority to consent to arbitration is unpersuasive.

Id. at 568-569. The court further found that the POA authorized the attorney-in-fact “to settle claims held by the principal,” and observed:

... Not unlike agreeing to arbitrate, settling a claim typically involves foregoing the remedy of submitting a claim to a court for final adjudication. We are not prepared to state that a grant of the authority to settle claims includes the authority to consent to arbitration. However, the specific grant of authority to settle claims in the document under review in this case is consistent with the view that the POA’s broad grant of authority includes the power to consent to arbitration.

Id. at 569.

We note that the trial court did not have the benefit of the opinion in Jaylene when it entered its order. Nevertheless, we find the reasoning in that opinion persuasive, and we find that the POA at issue is sufficiently similar to the POA at issue in that case to warrant application of that reasoning to the case at issue.

The order denying the motion to compel arbitration is REVERSED and the case is REMANDED for further proceedings.

DAVIS and HAWKES, JJ., concur. . In McKibbin, the court found that the nursing home resident was not bound by an arbitration clause in the nursing home agreement signed by her son. It found that the son had presented a durable power of attorney to demonstrate that he had the legal authority to enter into the nursing home agreement on behalf of his mother, but that "nothing in that power of attorney gave Ms. McKibbin's son the legal authority to enter into an arbitration agreement on behalf of his mother.” The McKibbin opinion did not contain any of the language of the durable power of attorney involved therein.

In Fletcher, the court found that the arbitration clause of the nursing home admission agreement could not be enforced against the estate of the nursing home resident because "Fletcher did not sign the agreement in her capacity as her mother's representative.”


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Citator

Cited By

  • Manorcare Health Servs., Inc. v. Stiehl, 22 So. 3d 96 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009)
    …So. 2d 590 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005); Eldridge v. Integrated Health Servs., Inc., 805 So. 2d 982 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001); Estate of Blanchard v. Cent. Park Lodges (Tarpon Springs), Inc., 805 So. 2d 6 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001); Five Points Health Care, Ltd. v. Mallory, 998 So. 2d 1180 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008); Slusser v. Life Care Ctrs. of Am., Inc., 977 So. 2d 662 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008); Estate of Orlanis v. Oakwood Terrace Skilled Nursing & Rehab. Ctr., 971 So. 2d 811 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007); Place at Vero Beach, Inc. v. Hanson, 953 So. 2d…
  • …orney-in-fact to bind principal to arbitration provision in nursing home admissions contract); Sovereign Healthcare of Tampa, LLC v. Estate of Huerta ex rel. Huerta, 14 So. 3d 1033 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009) (same); Five Points Health Care, Ltd. v. Mallory, 998 So. 2d 1180 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008) (same); Jaylene, Inc. v. Moots, 995 So. 2d 566, 570 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008), rev. denied, 995 So. 2d 566 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008) (holding that a “broad, general grant of authority” in a power of attorney authorized the attorney-in-fact to…
  • The Est. OF Nettie Irons v. Arcadia Healthcare, L.C., 66 So. 3d 396 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011)
    …— to the power to agree to arbitrate supported the conclusion that power of attorney’s umbrella grant of “full power and authority to act on [the principal’s] behalf’ was broad enough to include it); [*400] Five Points Health Care, Ltd. v. Mallory, 998 So. 2d 1180, 1181 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008) (holding power of attorney’s specific grant of power to “[p]rosecute, defend and settle all actions” consistent with conclusion that broad grant of authority to “[d]o anything regarding [her] estate, property and affairs th…

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