Carter v. SSC Odin Operating Company, LLC

              1
NOTICE
Decision filed 04/04/08. The text of
this dec ision may be changed or
corrected prior to the filing of a
Petition for Rehea ring or the
disposition of the same.
NO. 5-07-0392
IN THE
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
FIFTH DISTRICT
________________________________________________________________________
SUE CARTER, Special Administrator of the ) Appeal from the
Estate of Joyce Gott, Deceased, ) Circuit Court of
) Marion County.
Plaintiff-Appellee, ))
v. ) No. 06-L-75
)
SSC ODIN OPERATING COMPANY, LLC, )
d/b/a Odin Healthcare Center, ) Honorable
) David L. Sauer,
Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding.
________________________________________________________________________
JUSTICE SPOMER delivered the opinion of the court:
The defendant, SSC Odin Operating Company, LLC, doing business as Odin
Healthcare Center, appeals an order of the circuit court of Marion County denying the
defendant's motion to compel arbitration in the present lawsuit brought by the plaintiff, Sue
Carter, as the special administrator of the estate of Joyce Gott, deceased. For the reasons
that follow, we affirm the order of the circuit court.
BACKGROUND
The facts necessary to our disposition of this appeal are undisputed by the parties and
are as follows. The plaintiff, Sue Carter, is the special administrator of the estate of Joyce
Gott, deceased. Joyce was a resident of the defendant's facility, Odin Healthcare Center
(Odin), in Odin, Illinois, from May 20, 2005, until July 29, 2005, and again from January
12, 2006, until her death on January 31, 2006. At the outset of Joyce's first stay at Odin, the
plaintiff, acting not on her own behalf, but as Joyce's legal representative, executed a written
"Health Care Arbitration Agreement" with the defendant; at the outset of Joyce's second stay