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For Week Ending May 2, 2003
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THIS WEEK:
1. Arbitration: Parent is without authority to bind a minor
child to
arbitrate potential injury claims.
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CASE SUMMARY:
Arbitration: Parent is without authority to bind a minor
child to
arbitrate potential injury claims. Shea v Global Travel
Marketing, Ind.,
2003 WL 1916874 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App., April 11, 2003).
Mark G. Shea died after being mauled by hyenas while on an
African Safari
with his mother. Mark R. Shea, as the personal representative
for his
deceased son’s estate, sued Global Travel Marketing, Inc.
d/b/a The
African Adventure Company under Florida’s Wrongful Death
Statute. The
lower court determined that Global Travel was entitled to arbitrate
the
claim, holding that the child and father are bound to an arbitration
agreement signed by the child’s mother (Shea is divorced
from the child’s
mother who sued on her own behalf). Shea appealed the decision.
The
District Court of Appeal of Florida (Fourth District), reversing
the lower
court, held that a parent is without authority to bind a minor
child to
arbitrate potential personal injury claims; the issue was one
of first
impression in Florida. The court of appeals relied on public
policy to
decide the issue and cited both case law and statutory authority
to
illustrate analogous situations where Florida’s public
policy favors the
protection of minors from having their rights contracted away
by a parent.
Interestingly, in a prior decision, the appeals court affirmed
a lower
court’s ruling that bound the child’s mother to the
arbitration agreement.
Available online at: http://www.4dca.org/opfrm.html
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Editor-in-Chief: Demetri Papachristopoulos
Writers: David Hannon, Michael Greene, Kyle Abraham
Faculty Advisor: Richard Birke
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