(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.)
In the present case, Defendant Black’s insertion of Article 2 into the arbitration agreement contradicts and undercuts the clear understanding of the consequences that patients were intended to obtain from subdivisions (a) and (c) of Section 1295. For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.
With regard to Section 1295 subdivision (a), both parties to this contract, by entering into it, are giving up their constitutional right to have any such dispute decided in a court of law before a jury, and instead are accepting the use of arbitration. Yet Article 2 provides for the Filing by Physician of any action in Court to collect any fee from patient…. The addition of this Article 2 language to the agreement by Defendant Black undermines the communication of significant contractual consequences to the patient. The language muddles the clear understanding sought by the legislature with C.C.P. Section 1295, and is only inserted to provide a loophole out of arbitration for healthcare providers like Defendant Black.
With regard to subdivision(c), the arbitration agreement governs all subsequent open-book account transactions for medical services for which the contract was signed. Yet Article 2, again, undermines the communication of the significant contractual consequences to the patient. Are all subsequent open-book account transactions for medical services for which the contract was signed governed by the arbitration clause, or is there an exception for claims brought by Defendant Black to collect fees from the patient?
The insertion of Article 2 into the arbitration agreement by Defendant Black so significantly undermines the advisements specified in C.C.P. Section 1295, that the arbitration provisions in the agreement before the Court are unenforceable as a matter of law. (See Part 5 of 10.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.