Arbitration Wrongful death.

Byline: Mass. Lawyers Weekly Staff

Where a U.S. District Court judge entered an order compelling arbitration of a wrongful death claim, that order should be affirmed based on a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court opinion issued in response to two certified questions.

" On February 27, 2020, the SJC issued its opinion. The SJC wrote: 'We conclude that claims of statutory beneficiaries under our wrongful death statute, G.L.c. 229, 2, are derivative of the decedent's own cause of action, and that therefore the decedent's arbitration agreement binds those beneficiaries. We also conclude that, in the circumstances of this case, the arbitration agreement binds the executor or administrator of the decedent's estate to arbitrate the wrongful death action on behalf of the decedent's statutory beneficiaries.'GGNSC Admin. Servs., LLC v. Schrader, 140 N.E.3d 397, 407 (Mass. 2020). We then ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs addressing the resolution of this appeal in light of the SJC's opinion.

"Appellees argue that the SJC's decision requires us to affirm the district court's judgment compelling arbitration. They argue that the SJC's decision 'resolves the previously unsettled state law questions presented to it for certification' and that 'this Court must now accept and apply the state law as determined.'

"Appellant disagrees. She makes several assertions, all of which are without merit.

"Appellant first argues that the SJC's decision rests on a 'patent misreading' of the Massachusetts wrongful death statute. She urges that this court is 'not obliged to accept an interpretation based on clear error in reading regardless of the source.' But a federal court is 'duty-bound to accept controlling state law' as set forth by a state's highest court, and, in this case, 'it is incumbent upon us to accept the clear statement of Massachusetts law articulated by the SJC.'Sanders v. Phoenix Ins. Co., 843 F.3d 37, 47 (1st Cir. 2016). Appellant's argument is wrong that this court may now reject the SJC's interpretation of Massachusetts law.

"Finally, appellant asserts that beneficiaries of wrongful death claims in cases where decedents agreed to arbitrate will now be unfairly prejudiced in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Although she argues that strict scrutiny should apply to the SJC's classification, she cites no authority whatsoever for this proposition. This purported equal protection claim is...