Mary Ann Caudle, Next of Kin and Co-Executor of Estate of Louise K. Fite, Deceased, and on Behalf of Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Louise K. Fite v. Columbia Operations, LLC d/b/a Life Care Centers of Columbia and Life Care Centers of America, Inc.

This is an interlocutory appeal from a trial court’s grant of a motion to compel arbitration. The mother executed a power of attorney in favor of the plaintiff daughter. Subsequently, the daughter signed documents on her mother’s behalf for admission into the defendant nursing home. The documents included an agreement to arbitrate any disputes with the nursing home. After the mother died, the daughter filed this wrongful death lawsuit against the nursing home. The nursing home filed a motion to stay the lawsuit and compel arbitration; this motion was granted. The daughter was then granted permission for this interlocutory appeal, on the issue of whether the power of attorney gave the daughter authority to sign the arbitration agreement and waive her mother’s right to a jury trial. Interpreting the language in the power of attorney document, we find that the daughter had authority to execute the nursing home admission documents, including the arbitration agreement, only if, in the opinion of her physician, the mother was “incompetent or incapable of action” for herself. Therefore, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.