On December 7, 2010, the Third District Illinois Appellate Court issued a decision in Curto v. Illini Manors, Inc. upholding a trial court's ruling which invalidated an arbitration agreement signed by the wife of a nursing home resident because she lacked authority to execute the agreement on behalf of her husband.
In Curto, the plaintiff wife filed a complaint against the defendant nursing home pleading claims under the Nursing Home Care, Survival, Wrongful Death and Family Expense Acts. The defendant moved to dismiss the complaint and to compel arbitration arguing that the plaintiff was contractually bound by the arbitration agreement that she signed when her husband was admitted to the nursing home. The arbitration agreement provided that all disputes were to be decided by binding arbitration and the parties waived their right to a jury trial. Plaintiff signed the arbitration agreement above the line that stated "Signature of Resident Representative." Plaintiff's husband did not sign the agreement.
The trial court denied defendant's motion, finding the arbitration agreement invalid and unenforceable because there was no evidence of an actual or implied agency relationship between the husband and wife which gave plaintiff the authority to bind her husband to the mandatory arbitration terms of the contract. The Appellate Court affirmed the trial court's ruling and also found that plaintiff had not agreed to arbitrate her personal claims for wrongful death and medical expenses by signing the agreement because she had not signed the agreement in a personal capacity; rather, she signed it as the representative of her husband.
For copies of Curto v. Illinois Manors, Inc., 2010 WL 5113804 (
