Nebraska Supreme Court reverses summary judgment in nursing home negligence case holding that son did not have apparent authority to agree to binding arbitration for his mother's treatment. Koricic v. Beverly Enters. - Neb., S-08-1167, 278 Neb. 713 "The appellant, Frank Koricic (Frank), lived with his elderly mother, Manda Baker (Manda), and assisted her in her daily affairs. When her health declined, she was admitted to Beverly Hallmark, a nursing home in Omaha, Nebraska. At Manda’s admission, Frank signed several documents for her. One of the documents was an optional arbitration agreement. This appeal presents the issue whether Frank had authority to act as Manda’s agent and to enter into the arbitration agreement for her. The district court determined that because Frank had actual authority to enter into the arbitration agreement, the agreement bound her estate. Although we agree that Frank had authority to sign the mandatory paperwork for admission, we conclude that Frank did not have authority to sign the arbitration agreement because it was not a condition of admission. We reverse the district court’s order dismissing Frank’s complaint."

Nebraska Supreme Court reverses Douglas County District Court directed verdict that was in favor of the State of Florida Department of Insurance, receiver for an insolvent truck insurance company in its suit against insurance agency that used truckers' premiums to acquire other insurance when the insolvent insurer was unable to provide adequate coverage for the agency's customers. State of Florida v. Countrywide Truck Ins. Agency, S-06-1220, 275 Neb. 842 "The district court erred in granting a directed verdict in favor of Florida. Giving all reasonable inferences to Agency and Fulkerson, there is a question of fact whether a fraudulent transfer occurred between T ruck and Agency. T here is evidence that the transfer of $2,235,401 represented the amount held in the customer deposit account on behalf of T ruck’s insureds and that Agency used this money to purchase insurance for T ruck’s insureds. T here is no evidence of any other transfer."

Summary judgment for defendant in insured's breach of contract action against insurance broker for failing to purchase insurance reversed. Nebraska Supreme Court holds that summary judgment for insurance agent was inappropriate because the defendant did not prove whether the agent was a captive agent for the insurance company or whether he was an insurance broker, acting on behalf of the insured to acquire insurance. Broad v. Randy Bauer Ins. Agency, S-06-844, 275 Neb. 788 We conclude that an action for breach of contract to procure insurance is inappropriate when brought against an insurer’s agent who, within the scope of his or her authority, contracted on behalf of the disclosed principal and did not bind himself or herself personally. Specifically, an insurance agent’s mere promise to procure requested coverage through his sole principal is insufficient to create the agent’s personal liability because that promise is clearly within the scope of the agent’s authority. However, we will recognize a cause of action against a broker for breach of contract to procure insurance because the broker is the insured’s agent.

The "kitchen sink" power of attorney your rich uncle gave you is not your personal gold card. Nebraska Supreme Court holds that the attorney-in fact's plenary power of attorney did not permit him to transfer gifts from the principal to himself or his family members without specific authorization. Archbold v. Reifenrath, S-06-1124, 274 Neb. . "Section 49-1557 provides that plenary power authorizes the agent to act as the principal’s alter ego. Notably, § 49-1557 limits plenary power to those acts an agent is otherwise authorized to do as an agent. As explained above, our case law on the subject has made clear that an agent is not authorized to make substantially gratuitous transfers to himself or his family absent an express provision in the POA. Because the POA in this case does not contain a specific authorization for the making of gratuitous transfers by Joseph to himself or his immediate family, we determine that Joseph has failed to meet his burden." The attorney-in-fact defendant probably should not have offered the testimony of his attorney who prepared the document to introduce parole evidence that the principal intended to allow gratuitous transfers, because the Nebraska Supreme Court had suspended her a few years ago for her handling of real estate transactions in a divorce case.

Nebraska Supreme Court nixes North Carolina pig breeder's claim against hog farmers estate. The breeders officers mistakenly signed where the hog farm's principal should have signed to guarantee the farms breeding stock debts. Court affirms Gage County Probate Court's ruling that there was no guaranty agreement either by reforming the erroneously signed document nor by finding that the guaranty was the "leading object" of the agreement between the farm and breeder, so the court would not excuse the writing requirement of the statute of frauds (§ 36‑202(2) (Reissue 2004)). In re Estate of Dueck, S-06-538there was no written guaranty agreement between the parties. In the absence of a written agreement between GIS and Dueck, there was nothing to reform The leading object rule presumes that there has been an oral promise or some sort of an oral agreement.Dueck did not orally agree to guarantee Forward Trend’s debt to GIS, and it follows that the leading object rule was inapplicable.