Stewart v. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Nevada
Stewart v. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Nevada
Opinion of the Court
ORDER
The Memorandum filed on October 17, 2003, is withdrawn and replaced with the Amended Memorandum filed concurrently with this order.
With the filing of the Amended Memorandum, Plaintiff-Appellant’s petition for panel rehearing is denied.
The mandate shall issue forthwith.
Plaintiff-Appellant Sara Stewart appeals an order of the district court confirming an arbitration award in favor of DefendantAppellee Rocky Mountain Hospital and Medical Service d/b/a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nevada. The district court rejected Stewart’s argument that the Federal Arbitration Act was “reverse preempted” by the MeCarran-Ferguson Act and held that Nevada Revised Statute § 695B.181 could not be applied to invalidate the arbitration agreement.
As the party who initially requested arbitration, Stewart has waived the right to challenge the enforceability of the arbitration provision pursuant to § 695B.181.
We therefore do not reach the McCarran-Ferguson Act preemption issue. We decline to address Stewart’s equitable estoppel argument because she did not raise it below.
The order of the district court confirming the arbitration award is
AFFIRMED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Ninth Cir. R. 36-3.
. Nev.Rev.Stat. § 695B.181 permits health care contracts to provide for binding arbitration, but requires that such arbitration provisions meet certain conditions specified in the statute.
. Because the parties are familiar with the facts, we do not recite them here except as necessary to aid in understanding this disposition.
. After examining the record, we reject Stewart’s contention that she raised the issue below. Moreover, her equitable estoppel claim would fail because she was not ignorant of the binding arbitration provision, and there is no evidence that she relied to her detriment on conduct by Rocky Mountain. See NGA # 2 Ltd. Liab. Co. v. Rains, 113 Nev. 1151, 946 P.2d 163, 169 (1997) (stating the elements of equitable estoppel).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Sara STEWART, Plaintiff—Appellant v. BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD, OF NEVADA Rocky Mountain Hospital, Defendants—Appellees
- Status
- Published