Invalid Power of Attorney Did Not Constitute Sufficient Evidence of Ostensible Authority
Grandma’s birthday. 1896. Library of Congress.
Mother, in her 90s, suffering from dementia and osteoporosis, allegedly slipped and fell at a residential care facility for the elderly, after being left unattended in the dark on a wet pavement. Found lying in a pool of blood, mother was transported to a hospital, where she died. When daughter sued for elder abuse, fraud, wrongful death, and violation of a Health & Safety Code medical records provision, care facility unsurprisingly sought to compel arbitration. What defendant wants to try such a case before a jury? The trial court denied the motion to compel, and an appeal followed. Root v. Emeritus Corporation and Emeritus At Westwind Gardens, A134748 (1st Dist. Div. 5 May 17, 2013) (Needham, J., author 3:0) (unpublished).
First, the daughter signed an Agreement to Resolve Disputes by Binding Arbitration. But her authority to do so on behalf of her mother relied on an invalid health care power of attorney that was neither acknowledged by a notary nor signed by the requisite witnesses.
Second, the invalid health care power of attorney was insufficient to confer ostensible authority on the daughter to act on behalf of her mother. If it were otherwise, then it would permit health care and other decisions to be made based on the principal’s alleged signature alone, without the protective statutory formalities of acknowledgment before a notary or two witnesses.
Affirmed.
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