Laurel Creek Health Care Center v. Bishop
Court of Appeals of Kentucky,____S.W.3d___(2010)
FACTS
Gilbert Bishop was admitted to Laurel Creek Health Care Center on July 23, 2002, after arriving via ambulance without family present. During that examination, Gilbert communicated to Laurel Creek staff that he could not use his hands well enough to write or hold a pencil. Gilbert was otherwise found to be mentally competent. Gilbert’s sister, Rachel Combs, arrived after Gilbert, she offered to sign the admissions forms, but Laurel Creek employees told her that it was their policy to have the patient’s spouse sign the admissions papers if the patient was unable to sign them. Rachel also testified that Gilbert asked her to get his wife, Anna …show more content…

The record is clear that Anna was brought to the facility, by Gilbert’s request to his sister, for the expressed purpose of signing the admissions documents on his behalf, without further definition, restriction, or exception. It was a general delegation which Anna believed in good faith extended to the admissions agreement.
Gilbert told his sister, Rachel, to get Anna so that she could sign the admissions papers. Rachel testified in her deposition that she tried to sign the papers for Gilbert, but that the staff told her that it was their policy to have the patient’s spouse sign the paperwork and requested that Anna sign the documents. Gilbert’s actions in directing Rachel to bring Anna was communicated to Laurel Creek staff and they acted in reliance upon his expression of authority, whether actual or implied. The record indicates, therefore, that there was at the very least, an implied agency in this case.
A careful review of the record indicates that the trial court’s finding of fact stating “Gilbert Bishop’s words or actions did not give Anna Bishop actual, apparent, or implied authority to sign the purported arbitration agreement” is not supported by substantial evidence. Instead, the evidence indicates that Gilbert indicated to Laurel Creek that he was physically incapable of signing the documents but was of sound mental capacity and wanted