The Tennessee Supreme Court held that an arbitration agreement signed by a power of attorney as part of the paperwork for admittance to an assisted living facility was not a healthcare decision because it was optional and not required for admission. The Court also concluded that the next of kin in the wrongful-death suit filed is bound by the arbitration agreement. In 2007, Granville Williams, Jr., executed a durable power of attorney naming Karen Sams as his attorney-in-fact. The power of attorney gave Sams authority to act for Williams in “all claims and litigation matters” but not to make healthcare decisions. In 2020, Williams was admitted to an assisted-living facility called Azalea Court. Sams completed the admission forms as Williams’s representative under the power of attorney. Those forms included an arbitration agreement that was not required for admission to the facility. Sams signed this agreement on Williams’s behalf. Williams died two months after being admitted to Azalea Court.
His son, James Williams, brought a wrongful-death lawsuit against two corporations that managed or operated Azalea Court—Smyrna Residential, LLC, and Americare Systems, Inc. The defendants sought to compel arbitration. James Williams argued that he was not required to arbitrate. He contended that Sams lacked authority to agree to arbitration because that decision was a “healthcare decision” within the meaning of the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Act and the power of attorney did not authorize Sams to make healthcare decisions. James Williams also argued that the arbitration agreement would not bind him in any event because he was not a party to it.
