Benton v. Vanderbilt University

OPINION

E. RILEY ANDERSON, J.,

delivered

the opinion of the court,

in which FRANK F. DROWOTA, III, C.J., and JANICE M. HOLDER, and WILLIAM M. BARKER, JJ., joined. ADOLPHO A. BIRCH, JR., J., filed a dissenting opinion.

We granted this appeal to determine whether a third-party beneficiary who seeks to enforce a contract between a hospital and an insurance carrier may be bound by an arbitration provision in the contract. The trial court denied the hospital’s motion to compel arbitration, finding that the third-party beneficiary was not a party to the contract between the hospital and the insurance…