Personal Injury Law

Wrongful Death Of Sacramento Newborn Due To Hospital's Malpractice, Part 6 of 10

By Moseley Collins, Esq.

(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this medical malpractice/personal injury case and its proceedings.)

Procedural Unconscionability

Ms. Hall was pregnant and in need of an obstetrician to deliver her baby. At her first visit to Dr. Black, Ms. Hall was presented with the arbitration agreement. She was told to sign it prior to being seen.

In Armendariz, the arbitration agreement was imposed on the employees as a condition of their employment. Here, Ms. Hall was essentially in the same position as the employees in Armendariz. She was required to sign the arbitration agreement or forego receiving prenatal care and delivery from Dr. Black. She was in an oppressive take it or leave it situation. Just as the employees in Armendariz were put in the position of signing an arbitration agreement or risk being unemployed, Ms. Hall was put in the weaker position of signing the arbitration agreement or risk not finding a doctor to deliver her baby. This is classic disparity of bargaining power. The arbitration agreement is therefore a contract of adhesion and is procedurally unconscionable.

Substantive Unconscionability

Defendant Black's arbitration agreement is substantively unconscionable in two respects, lack of mutuality and the allocation of fees for arbitration. For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

(1) Mutuality

An arbitration agreement is substantively unconscionable if it is unfairly one-sided, requiring one party to the agreement to arbitrate their claims while the other party is not.

Full post as published by Sacramento Injury Lawyer Blog on June 14, 2010 (boomark / email).