Arbitration - Nursing home - Wrongful death.

Byline: R.I. Lawyers Weekly Staff

Where a U.S. District Court judge ruled that a wrongful death suit against a nursing home was subject to arbitration, the question should be certified to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

"This case is about arbitration agreements, nursing homes, and wrongful death claims under Massachusetts law. A set of organizations (collectively, GGNSC) that oversees the Golden Living Center Heathwood (Heathwood) in Chestnut Hill sued in federal court to compel arbitration of an underlying state wrongful death action brought by the personal representative of a deceased former Heathwood resident. The federal court compelled arbitration and declined to issue a stay of the state wrongful death action. ... Whether arbitration was required turns on how state law characterizes wrongful death actions.

"The personal representative appeals. She argues that as the plaintiff in the wrongful death suit, under state law, she is not bound by the decedent's agreement to arbitrate with GGNSC because her wrongful death right of recovery is independent of the decedent's wrongful death claim. GGNSC argues, to the contrary, that Massachusetts beneficiaries' wrongful death claims are derivative of the decedent's wrongful death claim, and so the arbitration agreement is binding. Because that dispute turns on the characterization of wrongful death actions by the Commonwealth, we certify questions to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) under its Rule 1:03.

" As no state opinion clearly decided the issue, the district court made an informed prediction that the SJC would hold that 'a wrongful death claim is a derivative claim as to which the decedent's...

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