AARON v. UNITED HEALTH SERVICES OF GEORGIA, INC., Et Al.
AARON v. UNITED HEALTH SERVICES OF GEORGIA, INC., Et Al.
Dissenting Opinion
The majority's holding permits a nursing home to deprive a party of his day in court despite the absence of an enforceable arbitration agreement. Consequently, I respectfully dissent.
*567As the party seeking to compel arbitration, PruittHealth must "prov[e] the existence of a valid and enforceable agreement to arbitrate," which "is generally governed by state law principles of contract formation." (Citation omitted.) United Health Svcs. of Ga. v. Alexander ,
Under Clark Brothers and MAPEI Corp. , the Agreement is incomplete because it calls for signatures, and PruittHealth never signed it. The Agreement contains a signature block for PruittHealth, which PruittHealth did not sign. It also contains a checklist directing PruittHealth to "[s]ecure appropriate signatures" and to "[h]ave ... two (2) healthcare center/agency witnesses execute the contract." PruittHealth did neither of those things. The Agreement even misidentifies the person signing on behalf of Editha Aaron.
The Agreement is unenforceable because it lacks mutual assent. Mutual assent is an element of any valid contract, and a contract lacking mutual assent is unenforceable. OCGA § 13-3-1 ; TranSouth Financial Corp. v. Rooks ,
The majority misses the point by arguing that PruittHealth "sought to enforce the Agreement at its first available opportunity."
*568By the time PruittHealth attempted to enforce the Agreement, it was too late. Partial performance of a contract to which the other party has already withdrawn assent cannot revive an unenforceable agreement.
Because the majority enforces an unenforceable arbitration agreement, I respectfully dissent.
See also Turnipseed v. Jaje ,
Opinion of the Court
*563In this interlocutory appeal, we decide whether a binding arbitration agreement exists if one party does not sign the agreement. Stacy Aaron, on behalf of Editha Aaron's wrongful-death beneficiaries, appeals the trial court's order staying his lawsuit against the entities running the nursing home that he alleges harmed his mother and compelling arbitration.
On appeal from the grant or denial of a motion to compel arbitration, the standard of review is "whether the trial court was *564correct as a matter of law." Tillman Park, LLC v. Dabbs-Williams Gen. Contractors ,
The record here shows that in October 2014, Editha was admitted to a PruittHealth nursing home in Savannah.
Separate from this fully executed admission agreement is a partially executed arbitration agreement (the "Agreement"). The Agreement lists the parties as "UniHealth PAC Savannah, LLC," and "Editha ... and B Aaron," even though "B Aaron" is not Editha's representative and did not sign the Agreement. Although the pre-printed portion of the Agreement says that it was 'made and entered into' on October 23, Stacy did not sign it until the next day. The Agreement provides that a signature binds Editha and anyone entitled to sue because of her death. No representative of PruittHealth signed the Agreement, even though the Agreement contains a signature block for a PruittHealth representative to sign. Both the admission and the arbitration agreements were prepared by PruittHealth and presented to Editha during her admission process at PruittHealth's facility. PruittHealth maintained the partially executed Agreement in its records.
*444Editha passed away within weeks of her discharge from the nursing home. Stacy sued PruittHealth on behalf of her wrongful death beneficiaries for negligence, violations of the bill of rights for residents of long-term care facilities, medical malpractice, fraud, and wrongful death. PruittHealth answered the lawsuit and also separately moved to compel arbitration. The trial court granted the motion, holding that the parties had mutually assented to the Agreement. The trial court reasoned that PruittHealth need not sign the Agreement because its act of entering the "exact date the agreement was signed" and "other specific language" about the parties indicated its assent to the Agreement. The trial court certified the order for *565immediate review, and we granted Stacy's application for interlocutory appeal.
In a single enumeration of error, Stacy argues that the trial court erred by holding that the parties had mutually assented to arbitrate. We disagree.
"Whether there is a valid agreement to arbitrate is generally governed by state law principles of contract formation...." Triad Health Mgmt. of Georgia, III, LLC v. Johnson ,
In determining if parties had the mutual assent or meeting of the minds necessary to reach agreement, courts apply an objective theory of intent whereby one party's intention is deemed to be that meaning a reasonable man in the position of the other contracting party would ascribe to the first party's manifestations of assent, or that meaning which the other contracting party knew the first party ascribed to his manifestations of assent. In some instances, the only conduct of the parties manifesting intent is the express language of the agreement. In other instances, the circumstances surrounding the making of the contract, such as correspondence and discussions, are relevant in deciding if there was a mutual assent to an agreement, and courts are free to consider such extrinsic evidence.
Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Nat. Collegiate Athletic Assn. ,
The record before us supports the conclusion that the parties mutually agreed to arbitrate these claims. First, Stacy signed the Agreement and initialed each page, indicating his intent to be bound by it. See Bostwick Banking Co. v. Arnold ,
As to PruittHealth, it drafted the Agreement, presented it to Stacy for approval, and retained it in its records after Stacy demonstrated assent to the terms. PruittHealth also filled in the date of intended execution and specifically tailored the contract language to the parties. See *566Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. McDavid ,
In addition to strong evidence that both parties mutually assented to the Agreement at the time of the patient's admission, PruittHealth sought to enforce the Agreement at its first available opportunity. See Burson v. Milton Hall Surgical Assocs., LLC ,
Because the parties mutually assented to the Agreement, and PruittHealth sought to enforce the Agreement as early as practicable, we find that the Agreement is enforceable. Thus, Stacy may not unilaterally rescind the Agreement by filing a claim in lieu of arbitration simply because PruittHealth failed to sign it. See Taylorv. Taylor ,
Accordingly, we agree with the trial court that the circumstances demonstrate that the parties intended to form and, in fact, formed a binding contract to arbitrate claims arising between them.
Judgment affirmed.
Gobeil, J., concurs. Hodges, J., dissents.*
*THIS OPINION IS PHYSICAL PRECEDENT ONLY. COURT OF APPEALS RULE 33.2(a).
The Appellees in this case are United Health Services of Georgia, Inc., UHS-Pruitt Holdings, Inc., PruittHealth, Inc., PruittHealth Care Management, Inc., PruittHealth-Property Management, LLC, PruittHealth Consulting Services, Inc., PruittHealth Therapy Services, Inc., PruittHealth-Savannah, LLC, and Randy West, NHA. For simplicity, we call them, collectively, "PruittHealth."
The decedent's name appears as "Edith" and "Editha" in the record. We refer to her as Editha.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.