Morrison Mahoney Partner Joe Desmond recently obtained a significant win in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in a nursing home case. 

An arbitration clause survived the purported expiration of its underlying contract and governs the resolution of claims brought by two plaintiffs against an assisted living facility for allegedly failing to properly administer a patient’s medication, according to a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson noted that an arbitration provision is severable from the remainder of its contract, and to avoid arbitration a party “must ordinarily make a targeted, ‘independent challenge’ to the arbitration clause itself.”

To view the article on the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly website, please click here [subscription].