Mark Heineman of Dodge County filed a personal injury lawsuit against The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society. The nursing home moved to dismiss the lawsuit and compel arbitration. The Nebraska Supreme Court agreed with the nursing home.
The court found that the contract containing the arbitration clause was supported by mutual consideration even though there was a suggestion that the nursing home did not arbitrate all disputes.
The arbitration clause was also not contrary to existing Nebraska public policy or law. There is a 2016 federal regulation prohibiting “a pre-dispute agreement for binding arbitration” but that regulation has been put on hold by a federal court. Of course Congress and the Unicameral can pass a law prohibiting arbitration agreements with nursing home residents but I think that is unlikely.
Source: Heineman v. Evangelical Luth. Good Sam. Soc., 300 Neb. 187 (June 8, 2018).
