DAVID MARK OLSON, PETITIONER,
v.
JERYL BLASCO, INDIVIDUALLY, AND AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF JOHN BLASCO, JR., DECEASED, AND JERYL BLASCO, ON BEHALF OF JOHN BLASCO AND MICHAEL BLASCO, SURVIVING MINOR CHILDREN, AND NATIONAL CAR RENTAL SYSTEM, INC., RESPONDENTS

Fla. 4th DCA | 1996-06-19
No. 96-0676
GUNTHER, C.J., and GLICKSTEIN and STEVENSON, JJ., concur.
676 So. 2d 481 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1996)

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Olson, a criminal defendant also defending a civil wrongful death action, sought certiorari review of a trial court order requiring discovery of his psychological treatment records. The court held that merely listing therapists' names in a criminal discovery response did not waive the psychologist-patient privilege in the related civil case, particularly where requiring such disclosure would force the defendant to choose between preserving constitutional rights in the criminal case and maintaining privilege in the civil case.


Holding

The court held that the trial court's finding of waiver was premature. Merely naming therapists in a criminal discovery response does not waive the privilege in the civil case absent a showing that the defendant intends to make his mental condition a defense. Compelling such disclosure would place an unconstitutional cost on the defendant's decision to preserve his ability to invoke constitutional rights in the criminal case.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant's mental condition is not placed at issue, thereby waiving the psychotherapist-patient privilege, when the defendant has not made their mental condition a def…

[2] Disclosure of a criminal defendant's therapists' names pursuant to discovery rules does not constitute a waiver of the psychotherapist-patient privilege if there is no sh…

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Key Quotes

“Petitioner undeniably has a due process right under both the federal and Florida constitutions to defend himself against the criminal charges and to call witnesses on his behalf.”

Establishes the constitutional foundation for the court's holding that the defendant cannot be forced to forfeit this right merely to preserve privilege in a civil case.

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Facts & Procedural History

Olson was a defendant in both a pending wrongful death civil action and a criminal prosecution stemming from the same facts. The trial court ordered d…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Petitioner, the defendant in a pending wrongful death action below and a criminal prosecution stemming from the same facts, seeks certiorari review of an order overruling his objection to discovery of records relating to his psychological treatment both before and after the accident. We grant the petition and quash the trial court’s order. Petitioner has not made his mental condition a defense in the civil action he is defending. Accordingly, there is no waiver pursuant to section 90.503(4)(c), Florida Statutes (1993).

The trial court concluded that the listing by petitioner of his therapists’ names in a discovery response in the criminal action waived the privilege. We disagree because there has been no showing that their being named will result in a defense based upon his condition.

Petitioner undeniably has a due process right under both the federal and Florida constitutions to defend himself against the criminal charges and to call witnesses on his behalf. U.S. Const, amend. V; Fla. Const, art. 1, § 9. Under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.220(d)(1), a defendant’s right to call a particular witness at trial is conditioned upon his furnishing the prosecutor with the witness’ name and address prior to trial. McDugle v. State, 591 So. 2d 660, 661 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991). A criminal defendant is not required to present any defense to the charges, and his mere disclosure of potential witnesses or other evidence pursuant to rule 3.220 does not obligate him to put on a defense. However, his failure to file a written discovery response under that rule can prevent him from exercising his constitutional right to present a defense, if the state can demonstrate that it was prejudiced by the defendant’s failure to comply with the discovery requirements of the rule. McDugle, 591 So. 2d 660; Hernandez v. State, 572 So. 2d 969 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990). Disclosure under these circumstances would place too high a cost on the petitioner’s decision to preserve his ability to invoke his constitutional rights in the criminal case.

Respondents rely upon Saenz v. Alexander, 584 So. 2d 1061, 1063 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), in which a criminal defendant waived the privilege for the purpose of the related civil suit by entering into a deferred prosecution agreement with the state in which he agreed to psychiatric treatment and to the release of his psychiatric records to a third party — his probation officer. The court found that the voluntary disclosure to the probation officer removed the confidentiality of the communications for all purposes.

The Saenz court made it clear that the same result would not necessarily be reached if the criminal defendant would have been compelled to forego a constitutional right in connection with the criminal case in order to retain the privilege in the civil case. In Saenz, participation in the deferred prosecution program was a benefit, not a constitutional right, which the defendant chose despite the warning that his psychiatric records would be disclosed to a third party, who was not one of the persons listed in section 90.503 to whom disclosure could be made without destroying confidentiality. Id. at 1063. That is the factor that distinguishes the situation here.

In short, our holding is that the finding of waiver was premature.

GUNTHER, C.J., and GLICKSTEIN and STEVENSON, JJ., concur.


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