Wascher v. S. Cal. Permanente Med. Grp. (Summary)

Arbitration Agreements

Wascher v. S. Cal. Permanente Med. Grp., G047042 (Cal. Ct. App. July 29, 2013)

The Court of Appeal for the Fourth District of California affirmed a trial court’s order denying a medical group’s motion to compel their former employee, a surgeon, to arbitrate his claims against them. The court found it was impossible to determine whether this dispute was one which they agreed to arbitrate.  Although the surgeon’s employment contract clearly specified that the medical group’s official rules and regulations contained the applicable dispute resolution procedure and were adequately incorporated into the employment contract, the medical group solely relied upon another dispute resolution contract signed by the surgeon, which omitted those rules and regulations.  The court found that the medical group failed to establish what the parties agreed to arbitrate and the dispute resolution agreement relied upon by the medical group specified that it would not supersede any dispute resolution provision within the surgeon’s employment contract.