FEDERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, PETITIONER,
v.
DORIS HALL, RESPONDENT
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Florida appellate court granted certiorari and quashed the trial court's order compelling production of an insurance adjuster's notes, holding that such notes are protected by the work-product privilege and were not waived by prior production of other claim file documents.
An insurance adjuster's notes are protected by the work-product privilege and production of other claim file documents does not constitute waiver of that privilege.
[1] Work-product privilege protects an insurance adjuster's notes from discovery, and the privilege is not waived by production of other claim file documents that were not su…
Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“failure to assert work-product privilege at earliest opportunity does not constitute waiver 'so long as the privilege is asserted by a pleading, to the trial court, before there has been an actual disclosure of the information, alleged to be protected'”
Court explaining the standard for work-product privilege waiver, citing Truly Nolen Exterminating, Inc. v. Thomasson
Federal Insurance Company sought to prevent disclosure of its claims adjuster's note pad entries in litigation with Doris Hall; the trial court ordere…
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PER CURIAM.
Federal Insurance Company seeks a writ of certiorari quashing the trial court’s order compelling production of its claims adjustor’s note pad entries. We grant certiorari and quash the order to the extent that it orders production of the adjustor’s notes. That portion of the order constitutes a departure from the essential requirements of law: the adjustor’s notes are protected by the work-product privilege. See American Reliance Ins. Co. v. Rosemont Condominium Homeowners Ass’n, Inc., 671 So. 2d 250 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996); State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Valido, 662 So. 2d 1012 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995). Contrary to Hail’s assertion, a review of the hearing transcript on the motion to compel fails to disclose that the privilege was waived by production of the requested documents.
The record demonstrates that (1) the documents sought to be protected had not been produced; and (2) at the hearing, Federal’s counsel merely referred to “producible” portions of the claim file and to documents previously produced which, as stated in its written response to the request for production, Federal did not object to on work-product grounds and were duplicative of previous discovery. See Truly Nolen Exterminating, Inc. v. Thomasson, 554 So. 2d 5, 5-6 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989) (failure to assert work-product privilege at earliest opportunity does not constitute waiver “so long as the privilege is asserted by a pleading, to the trial court, before there has been an actual disclosure of the information, alleged to be protected”), review dismissed, 558 So. 2d 20 (Fla.1990).
Certiorari granted.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Scottsdale Ins. Co. v. Camara de Comercio Latino-Americana DE LOS Estados Unidos, Inc., 813 So. 2d 250 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)…is appropriate where the trial court has ordered production of (1) an insurer’s claims file prior to a determination of coverage, and (2) where the trial court has ordered production of privileged communications. See, e.g., Federal Ins. Co. v. Hall, 708 So. 2d 976 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998). When the issue of insurance coverage is unresolved and at issue in pending court proceedings, a trial court must not order an insurer to produce its claims files and other work product documents. See State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v…
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GKK v. Petronila Cruz, 251 So. 3d 967 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)…ng to the accident; and (3) records, investigation sheets, memoranda, and photographs, relating to the accident, including any and all information...received by the defendant's attorneys from investigators and adjusters."); Federal Ins. Co. v. Hall, 708 So. 2d 976 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998) (holding that an insurance adjuster's notes are protected work product and compelling their production departs from the essential requirements of law); Goldstein v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., 118 So. 2d 253, 255 (Fla. 3d DC…
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GKK v. Cruz (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)
Authorities Cited
- State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Valido, 662 So. 2d 1012 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995)
- Truly Nolen Exterminating, Inc. v. Thomasson, 554 So. 2d 5 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)
- Am. Reliance Ins. Co. v. Rosemont Condo. Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., 671 So. 2d 250 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)