Florida Nursing Home Lawyer Blog
Florida nursing home arbitration agreements have become increasingly the norm for most for-profit centers that care for the aging, making them a central point of contention in many nursing home injury and wrongful death lawsuits. The law is not exactly settled, but a few Florida Supreme Court decisions in recent years have provided guidance upon which many Palm Beach injury lawyers have relied in determining whether it’s worth fighting to invalidate an arbitration agreement or instead work within that system.
Arbitration agreements fall under contract law, which as long as both parties are able, willing and not coerced or defrauded, have almost always been ruled valid. However in recent years, Palm Beach injury attorneys have noted a number of reasons Florida nursing home arbitration agreements are problematic. Among those:
- Residents must choose between their legal rights and proper care.
- Residents may not always be fully aware of what they are signing or the fact that the arbitration process usually favors nursing homes.
- Arbitration allows nursing homes to keep shameful acts and incidents out of the public eye.
- Discovering the outcome of an arbitration is tough if not impossible, as they are confidential and no database stores them.
In general, our Palm Beach nursing home injury and wrongful death lawyers don’t recommend signing an arbitration agreement if it can be avoided. If a client has one in place in a nursing home abuse case, we’ll generally explore our options to determine if there is a way to invalidate that agreement. Continue reading →