AI Generated Opinion Summaries

This summary was computer-generated without any editorial revision. It is not official, has not been checked for accuracy, and is NOT citable.

Facts

• The case involves the personal representative of the wrongful death estate of Urah Hodge appealing against multiple defendants associated with healthcare and rehabilitation services. The core of the dispute is the defendants' motion to compel arbitration, which was denied by the district court (para 1).

Procedural History

• [Not applicable or not found]

Parties' Submissions

• Plaintiff-Appellee: Argued against the motion to compel arbitration, leading to the district court's denial of the motion.
• Defendants-Appellants: Argued that the district court erred in denying their motion to compel arbitration on the grounds of substantive unconscionability and contended that the court lacked the authority to make threshold arbitrability determinations (para 1).

Legal Issues

• Whether the district court erred in denying the motion to compel arbitration on grounds of substantive unconscionability.
• Whether the arbitration agreement evidences a clear and unmistakable intent to arbitrate threshold issues.
• Whether the Hodge estate raised a specific challenge to the delegation clause that renders the clause unenforceable (paras 1, 4).

Disposition

• The decision of the district court to deny the motion to compel arbitration was reversed, and the case was remanded with instructions to submit the case to arbitration (para 5).

Reasons

• Per J. Miles Hanisee, with Judges Jacqueline R. Medina and Katherine A. Wray concurring, the appellate court found that the district court erred in denying the motion to compel arbitration. The appellate court's decision was heavily influenced by a recently decided case, Green v. Peak Medical Farmington, LLC, which presented nearly identical underlying claims, arbitration agreements, and arguments. The appellate court concluded that, as in Green, the arbitration agreement in question showed a clear and unmistakable intent to arbitrate threshold issues. Furthermore, the Hodge estate did not raise a specific challenge to the delegation clause that would render it unenforceable. This led to the reversal of the district court's decision and the remand of the case with instructions to proceed to arbitration (paras 2-5).