Figgins v. Covenant Care Courtyard CA3

Filed 2/26/26 Figgins v. Covenant Care Courtyard CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Yolo) ----

CRISTINA GONZALEZ FIGGINS et al., C099832

Plaintiffs and Respondents, (Super. Ct. No. CV20220622)

v.

COVENANT CARE COURTYARD, LLC, et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

Maria D. Gonzalez (Gonzalez), a former resident of skilled nursing facility Courtyard Healthcare Center (Courtyard), died after falling from her wheelchair at Courtyard. Her children sued the owner and operator of Courtyard, Gonzalez’s primary care physician and physical therapist assistant at Courtyard, and the owner of the building where Courtyard is located. Courtyard’s owner and operator, the physical therapist assistant, and the building owner (together, appellants) moved to compel arbitration and lost. On appeal, appellants contend the trial court erred by: (1) admitting a medical expert declaration based on unauthenticated medical records; and (2) disregarding a

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Courtyard witness declaration in finding appellants failed to authenticate Gonzalez’s electronic signature on the arbitration agreement. We conclude appellants failed to authenticate Gonzalez’s electronic signature. As such, we need not address the medical expert declaration. The trial court’s order is affirmed. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Gonzalez was admitted to Courtyard following her above-knee amputation surgeries. Less than two weeks after her admission, Gonzales fell from her wheelchair and died several days later. Gonzalez’s children (plaintiffs) sued Covenant Care Courtyard LLC, the owner and operator of Courtyard, Gonzalez’s primary care physician and physical therapist assistant at Courtyard, and the owner of Courtyard’s building, CTR Partnership, L.P. A. The First Motion to Compel Arbitration Appellants filed a motion to compel arbitration, alleging Gonzalez signed an arbitration agreement to submit any dispute arising out of the services or health care provided by Courtyard to arbitration. The arbitration agreement contains Gonzalez’s purported electronic signature. Courtyard’s admission coordinator (coordinator) declared in support of the motion: “I went through the Admission packet and Arbitration Agreement with [Gonzalez] at the time she was admitted to the facility and witnessed her sign the documents electronically. [Gonzalez] never gave any indication that she did not understand the terms of the Admission Agreement or Arbitration Agreement or that she was not voluntarily signing the Arbitration Agreement.” Gonzalez’s sons submitted declarations opposing the motion. Their declarations stated Gonzalez’s primary language was Spanish and her education stopped at third grade in Mexico. Gonzalez was unable to read and comprehend English, and only read at third- grade level in Spanish. Due to her language limitations, Gonzalez “would never sign a