CALIFORNIA CLASS ACTION LAW

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In a per curiam opinion today applying the rule in Concepcion, the U.S. Supreme Court  reversed and remanded orders of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, which held unenforceable all predispute arbitration agreements that apply to claims alleging personal injury or wrongful death against  nursing homes.  Marmet Health Care Center, Inc., et al. v.  Clayton Brown, et al., Case Nos. 11–391 and 11–394, 565 U. S. ____ (Feb. 21, 2012).

The U.S. Supreme Court held that the “Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, by misreading and disregarding the precedents of this Court interpreting the FAA, did not follow controlling federal law implementing that basic principle.”  Id.  “When this Court has fulfilled its duty to interpret federal law, a state court may not contradict or fail to implement the rule so established.”

Background

In each of three negligence suits, a family member of a patient requiring extensive nursing care had signed an agreement with a nursing home on behalf of the patient.  Id. The agreements included arbitration clauses requiring the parties to arbitrate all disputes, other than claims to collect late payments owed by the patient.  Id. In each of the three cases, a family member of a patient who had died sued the nursing home in state court, alleging that negligence caused injuries or harm resulting in death. Id.

In a decision concerning all three cases, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held that “as a matter of public policy under West Virginia law, an arbitration clause in a nursing home admission agreement adopted prior to an occurrence of negligence that results in a personal injury or wrongful death, shall not be enforced to compel arbitration of a dispute concerning the negligence.”  Id.

The state court considered whether the state public policy was pre-empted by the FAA:

The state court found unpersuasive this Court’s interpretation of the FAA, calling it “tendentious,” id., at 51a, and “created from whole cloth,” id., at 53a. It later concluded that “Congress did not intend for the FAA to be, in any way, applicable to personal injury or wrongful death suits that only collaterally derive from a written agreement that evidences a transaction affecting interstate commerce, particularly where the agreement involves a service that is a practical necessity for members of the public,”  id., at 84a.  The court thus concluded that the FAA does not pre-empt the state public policy against predispute arbitration agreements that apply to claims of personal injury or wrongful death against nursing homes.

Id.

Discussion

The Supreme Court held that the “West Virginia court’s interpretation of the FAA was both incorrect and inconsistent with clear instruction in the precedents of this Court.”  Id.  The Court held that the FAA includes “no exception for personal-injury or wrongful-death claims.”  Id.

Citing AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U. S. ___, ___ (2011), the Court wrote:

When state law prohibits outright the arbitration of a particular type of claim, the analysis is straightforward: The conflicting rule is displaced by the FAA.”  AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U. S. ___, ___ (2011) (slip op., at 6–7).  That rule resolves these cases. West Virginia’s prohibition against predispute agreements to arbitrate personal-injury or wrongful-death claims against nursing homes is a categorical rule prohibiting arbitration of a particular type of claim, and that rule is contrary to the terms and coverage of the FAA. See ibid.  See also, e.g., Preston v. Ferrer, 552  U. S. 346, 356 (2008) (FAA pre-empts state law granting  state commissioner exclusive jurisdiction to decide issue the parties agreed to arbitrate); Mastrobuono v. Shearson  Lehman Hutton, Inc., 514 U. S. 52, 56 (1995) (FAA preempts state law requiring judicial resolution of claims  involving punitive damages);  Perry v.  Thomas, 482 U. S.  483, 491 (1987) (FAA pre-empts state-law requirement that litigants be provided a judicial forum for wage disputes); Southland Corp. v.  Keating, 465 U. S. 1, 10 (1984) (FAA pre-empts state financial investment statute’s  prohibition of arbitration of claims brought under that  statute).

Granting the petition for certiorari, the Court vacated the judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is and remanded the cases for proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

By CHARLES JUNG