On May 2, 2023, Justice Ostrager of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Surgical Specialists of Greater N.Y. v. Aetna, Inc., 2023 NY Slip Op. 31479(U), holding that the question of the authority of the person who signed an agreement on behalf of a medical practice is, under the AAA rules, for the arbitrator to determine, explaining:
Case law provides that the incorporation of the AAA Rules into an agreement delegates the issue of arbitrability to the arbitrator.
As indicated above, SSGNY vigorously argues that it is a non-signatory to the Provider Agreement and that Dr. Malhotra had no authority to execute the Provider Agreement on behalf of SSGNY. But the Provider Agreement lists SSGNY as the contact person and the billing provider and lists SSGNY’s Tax Identification Number as the Tax Identification Number for billing purposes. As such, the parties have a sufficient relationship to each other and to the rights created under the Provider Agreement to allow the dispute to proceed to arbitration. Indeed, under all these circumstances, the Court is constrained to compel arbitration, and the AAA Arbitrators, not this Court, will decide the issue of arbitrability of this dispute. Aetna has a textual basis for its argument that this dispute must be arbitrated. If SSGNY prevails on the arbitrability issue, SSGNY can return to Court.
(Internal citations omitted).