7556 - Demand for arbitration; minors; consolidation of proceedings.
§ 7556. Demand for arbitration; minors; consolidation of proceedings. (a) Any person subject to an arbitration agreement may seek to compel arbitration, pursuant to section seventy-five hundred three or section thirty hundred forty-five of this chapter. (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of section twelve hundred nine of this chapter, a minor child and a person judicially determined to be incompetent shall be bound to arbitrate disputes, controversies, or issues upon the execution of an arbitration election on the person's behalf by a parent, legal guardian, committee, conservator or other person legally authorized to enroll such minor or incompetent person in a health maintenance organization, in accordance with the provisions of section forty-five hundred six-a of the public health law. (c) Separate arbitration proceedings brought pursuant to this article, which involve common question of law and fact, shall be consolidated into a single arbitration proceeding. (d) Except for arbitrations commenced pursuant to section thirty hundred forty-five of this chapter, any case involving a person who is not bound to participate in the arbitration proceeding pursuant to subdivision (e) of section forty-four hundred six-a of the public health law shall not be subject to the arbitration proceeding, unless such person and all parties who are subject to the arbitration consent to the arbitration of the claim. Absent such consent, any party may seek to stay such arbitrations, pursuant to section seventy-five hundred three of this chapter, notwithstanding any time limits that may otherwise apply to such a stay, and require the matter to proceed as a civil action. In the event that such an arbitration is stayed, the arbitration administrator shall forthwith transfer the case to the clerk of the court in the venue designated by the plaintiff, where the case shall be expeditiously reviewed and assigned in accordance with rules promulgated by the chief administrator of the courts. If the demand for arbitration was made or a notice of intention to arbitrate was served within the limitations of time specified by article two of this chapter, and the arbitration was subsequently stayed and transferred to a court, the action shall be deemed to have been timely commenced, in accordance with the provisions of subdivision (a) of section two hundred five of this chapter.