Courtyard Gardens Health and Rehabilitation, LLC; Senior Living Communities of Arkansas, LLC; Arkansas Snf…

Summary

The court held that the nursing-home arbitration agreement remained enforceable despite the National Arbitration Forum's unavailability. It concluded that the agreement required arbitration under the Forum's procedural code but did not make the Forum an integral or exclusive arbitrator, so the Federal Arbitration Act authorized appointment of a substitute arbitrator and the impossibility defense failed. Justice Danielson, joined by Justice Wynne and Special Justice Ryan Allen, dissented, concluding that incorporation of the Forum's code made the Forum an integral term and rendered the agreement impossible to perform.