Joe Desmond was quoted extensively in the April 19 issue of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.
“A wrongful death suit against a Chestnut Hill nursing home fell within the scope of an arbitration agreement signed by a family member under a power of attorney shortly after the decedent’s admission to the facility, a U.S. District Court judge has determined… Desmond successfully argued in favor of the general validity of arbitration agreements executed in the context of nursing home admissions in the 2007 SJC case Miller v. Cotter.”
Joe maintained that Woodlock’s decision was consistent with the language of Massachusetts’ wrongful death statute, which limits beneficiary recovery to what the decedent could have recovered for personal injuries had death not resulted.
“It’s functionally the same arbitration agreement 11 years later,” Desmond said. “We have legal authority that, in the absence of fraud, duress or unconscionability, you have a binding, enforceable agreement.”
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