AMERICAN HEALTH PLAN, INC., PETITIONER,
v.
TULLY KOSTNER, RESPONDENT
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American Health Plan challenged a discovery order requiring it to disclose names of health plan subscribers whose contracts were terminated for misrepresentation. The court granted certiorari, finding the discovery order was an abuse of discretion that violated privacy rights, lacked relevance, and imposed excessive burden.
The court held that the trial court abused its discretion in ordering the discovery. The interrogatories had merit in their objections regarding third-party privacy rights, lack of relevance to the issues in the case, and excessive burden requiring review of thousands of files.
[1] Discovery orders that unduly infringe upon privacy rights of persons unconnected to a cause of action may constitute an abuse of discretion.
[2] Interrogatories seeking discovery of matters neither relevant to the issues in a cause nor reasonably calculated to produce admissible evidence may be objectionable.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the interrogatories are offensive in that disclosure of the information sought would unduly infringe upon privacy rights of persons unconnected to this cause”
Establishes that third-party privacy is a valid basis for limiting discovery in civil litigation
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceGertrude Kostner sued American Health Plan for breach of contract and related claims involving denial of health services coverage. During discovery, t…
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PER CURIAM.
This is a petition for writ of common law certiorari seeking review of an order of the trial court directing petitioner/defendant to answer certain interrogatories by furnishing respondent/plaintiff the names of the subscribers to petitioner’s health plan whose contracts for health services were terminated by petitioner for misrepresentation or omissions of medical information made in their applications from the tenth day of August, 1976 through the date on which the answers are made.
The information was sought in connection with plaintiff’s suit against defendant for breach of its agreement to render and pay for all hospital and physicians’ services of plaintiff Gertrude Kostner. Plaintiff alleged negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract, conspiracy and fraud. Compensatory and punitive damages were claimed.
Petitioner objected to each of the interrogatories on numerous grounds, among them being that the interrogatories are offensive in that disclosure of the information sought would unduly infringe upon privacy rights of persons unconnected to this cause; that the interrogatories seek discovery of matters which are neither relevant to the issues in the subject cause nor reasonably calculated to produce evidence admissible in this cause; and that these interrogatories are excessively burdensome and oppressive because they require defendant to expend great amounts of time and expense to review more than three thousand files in search of the requested information. We hold that there was merit in the objections and that the order appealed constitutes an abuse of discretion by the trial court and departs from the essential requirements of the law. Argonaut Insurance Company v. Peralta, 358 So. 2d 232 (Fla.3d DCA 1978).
Therefore, certiorari is granted and the order reviewed is hereby quashed and the cause is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent herewith.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Dade Cnty. Med. Ass'n v. Hlis, 372 So. 2d 117 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979)…ving it. Many, probably most, discovery questions may be decided by a proper balancing of the competing interests to be served by granting discovery or by denying it. See, e. g., Argonaut Ins. Co. v. Peralta, supra; American Health Plan v. Kostner, 367 So. 2d 276 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979); Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Salido, 354 So. 2d 963 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978); Begel v. Hirsch, 350 So,2d 514 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977), cert. denied, 361 So. 2d 830 (Fla.1978); Reeg v. Fetzer, 78 F.R.D. 34 (W.D.Okl.1976); Payne v. Howard, 75 F…
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State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Gray, 546 So. 2d 36 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)…ertiorari, and quash the order of the trial court. Certiorari review will lie where, as here, the trial court’s order constitutes an abuse of discretion and a departure from the essential requirements of law. American Health Plan, Inc. v. Kostner, 367 So. 2d 276 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979); Argonaut Insurance Company v. Peralta, 358 So. 2d 232 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978). Respondents have not sufficiently contradicted petitioner’s affidavit which states that petitioner does not maintain a central records file from which the…
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Nat'l Convenience Stores, Inc. v. Embrey, 375 So. 2d 358 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979)…Certiorari will lie to review an abuse of discretion in discovery matters where irreparable injury will accrue as a result of undue infringement upon the privacy rights of persons unconnected to the litigation. American Health Plan, Inc. v. Kostner, 367 So. 2d 276 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979). In the instant case there is no showing that all the information sought by the challenged interrogatory is or would be relevant to the pending lawsuit. Respondent correctly points out that information as to those employees of NC…
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- Argonaut Ins. Co. v. Peralta, 358 So. 2d 232 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)