Stipanuk v. Williams

552 S.W.3d 34
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMay 23, 2018
DocketNo. CV–18–1
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 552 S.W.3d 34 (Stipanuk v. Williams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stipanuk v. Williams, 552 S.W.3d 34 (Ark. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

RAYMOND R. ABRAMSON, Judge

Dr. Gerald Stipanuk appeals from the Mississippi County Circuit Court's order denying his motion to stay proceedings and to compel arbitration. On appeal, Dr. Stipanuk argues that the circuit court erred in denying his motion. We affirm.

Dr. Stipanuk, a medical doctor, is the medical director of Heritage Square Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Inc. (Heritage Square). The medical-director agreement between Dr. Stipanuk and Heritage Square provides in part:

2. Provider Services..... Provider agrees to be responsible for the peer review activities at the facility, including the overall coordination of medical care for all patients, not only those for whom Provider is the Attending Physician. For purposes hereof, coordination of care *36means Provider shares responsibility for assuring that the facility is providing an appropriate level and quality of care for its patients as required which involves monitoring and ensuring implementation of patient care policies and providing oversight and supervision of physician services and medical care of patients.
....
10. Independent Contractor. This agreement does not constitute a hiring of Provider as an employee of the facility. It is the parties' intention that Provider shall be an independent contractor and not the facility's employee.... This agreement shall not be construed as a partnership, and facility shall not be liable for any obligations incurred by Provider.

Johnnie Mae Williams was a resident of Heritage Square, and her daughter is Songela Williams. Johnnie Mae was admitted to Heritage Square on June 5, 2015. When Johnnie Mae was admitted, Songela executed an admission agreement and an arbitration agreement with Heritage Square on behalf of Johnnie Mae. The admission agreement provided in part:

I. FACILITY OBLIGATIONS
....
D. Obtaining physician services. The Facility agrees to exercise due diligence to obtain services of the Patient's personal physician when the Patient's condition requires such medical attention. If the Patient's personal physician is not available, the Facility will exercise due diligence in attempting to obtain the services of another equally qualified physician for the Patient.
....
IV. FACILITY POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
....
B. Physician Instruction. The Patient is under the care of his or her personal physician. The Patient acknowledges that the physician is an independent contractor, and that the Facility's liability is limited for any act or omission by the physician, as long as the staff of the Facility exercises the appropriate care.

The arbitration agreement provided in part:

2. The Parties understand and agree that all claims, disputes, demands, and controversies arising out of, in connection with or relating in any way to the validity, interpretation, or performance of the Resident Admission Agreement, or any service or health care provided by the Facility to the Resident, including any and all claims for equitable relief or claims based on contract, tort, statute, warranty, or any alleged breach, default, negligence, wantonness, fraud, misrepresentation, suppression of fact or inducement ("Claims"), shall be resolved by the fullest extent permitted by federal law exclusively by binding arbitration and not by a lawsuit or resort to court process. This includes all Claims of the Resident and all Claims of the Facility.
....
5. All Claims based in whole or in part of the same incident, transaction or the same course of care or services provided by the Facility to the Resident shall be arbitrated in one proceeding.
....
14. This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of, and bind, the Parties and their successors, heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns. With regard to the Facility, this includes any agents, employees, and/or servants of the Facility.

On June 10, 2015, five days after Johnnie Mae's admission to Heritage Square, she died.

*37On September 19, 2016, Songela, individually and as the special administrator of Johnnie Mae's estate (the Estate), filed suit against Heritage Square and its affiliated entities.1 The complaint also included Dr. Stipanuk as a defendant in his capacity as Johnnie Mae's primary-care physician. The complaint asserted that "[t]his is an action for monetary damages owed to the decedent, Johnnie Mae Williams, her estate and its beneficiaries due to the medical malpractice, ordinary negligence, violation of resident rights, and wrongful death caused by Defendants." Specifically, the Estate alleged claims for (1) medical malpractice against Heritage Square; (2) violations of the "Arkansas Resident Rights" statute against Heritage Square; (3) ordinary negligence against Heritage Square and its affiliates; (4) joint venture and/or joint enterprise against Heritage Square and its affiliates; (5) medical malpractice against Dr. Stipanuk; and (6) wrongful death against all defendants. In the complaint, the Estate asserted that "Dr. Stipanuk was assigned to be and was her primary care physician at Heritage Square."

On March 20, 2017, Heritage Square and its affiliates filed a motion to stay proceedings and compel arbitration. They attached the admission and arbitration agreements to the motion. The court held a hearing on August 28, 2017. At the hearing, the Estate's counsel clarified the facts that gave rise to the complaint. Specifically, she stated that while at Heritage Square, Johnnie Mae had a feeding tube. Heritage Square employees allegedly called Dr. Stipanuk, and he told them to continue feeding Johnnie Mae for the five days she resided at Heritage Square. Johnnie Mae was later taken to the emergency room where she died due to overfeeding.

Following the hearing, on August 29, 2017, Dr. Stipanuk joined the motion to stay proceedings and compel arbitration. He attached the medical-director agreement to his motion.

On December 6, 2017, the court entered a written order granting the motion to stay proceedings and compel arbitration as to Heritage Square and its affiliates. However, the court denied the motion as to Dr. Stipanuk because he was not a signatory to the arbitration agreement, and the complaint related to Dr. Stipanuk's acts committed in his capacity as Johnnie Mae's treating physician, not in his capacity as Heritage Square's medical director. Thus, the court found that "[t]he rationale for giving the benefit of a contractual agreement to non-signing entities involved in the operation and control of an enterprise" did not apply. Dr. Stipanuk timely appealed the circuit court's order to this court.

An order denying a motion to compel arbitration is an immediately appealable order. Ark. R. App. P.-Civ. 2(a)(12) ; Ark. Code Ann. § 16-108-228(1) (Repl. 2016); HPD, LLC v. TETRA Techs., Inc. , 2012 Ark.

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Bluebook (online)
552 S.W.3d 34, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stipanuk-v-williams-arkctapp-2018.