Clayton Brown, as Guardian for and on Behalf of Clarence Brown, Plaintiff Below, Appellant v. Genesis Healthcare…

Summary

In three consolidated nursing home cases, the West Virginia Supreme Court held that Section 15(c) of the West Virginia Nursing Home Act, which voids any waiver of a resident's right to commence an action, is preempted by Section 2 of the Federal Arbitration Act to the extent it nullifies arbitration clauses in written admission contracts affecting interstate commerce. The court nevertheless held that, as a matter of West Virginia public policy, an arbitration clause in a nursing home admission agreement adopted before the alleged negligence cannot be enforced to compel arbitration of a later personal injury or wrongful death claim, because Congress did not intend the FAA to govern such pre-injury agreements. It further held the arbitration clauses in the Brown and Taylor admission agreements procedurally and substantively unconscionable and unenforceable, and that the circuit court erred in dismissing landlord Canoe Hollow Properties. The two dismissal orders were reversed and remanded, and the certified question in Willett, as reformulated, was answered yes on preemption with directions that the clause not be enforced on remand.