BEVERLY ENTERPRISES-FLORIDA, INC., ETC., PETITIONER,
v.
BONNIE OLVERA, RESPONDENT
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Florida appellate court quashed discovery order compelling production of nursing director's notes prepared during internal and risk management investigation, finding them protected as work product prepared in anticipation of litigation absent showing of need and inability to obtain equivalent materials.
Notes prepared by a nursing director during internal and risk management investigation of a patient injury are privileged work product protected from discovery unless the requesting party demonstrates need and inability to obtain equivalent materials without undue hardship.
[1] Notes prepared by a healthcare facility's director of nursing during internal and risk management investigation of a patient injury are protected work product prepared in…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the notes were prepared in anticipation of possible litigation and are privileged and protected unless Olvera can show a need for them and can establish an inability to obtain equivalent materials without undue hardship”
Court's statement of the applicable legal standard for work product protection in discovery disputes.
A nursing director at Longwood Health Care Center prepared notes and an incident report while investigating a hip fracture sustained by patient Bonnie…
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PER CURIAM.
Beverly Enterprises-Florida, Inc., d/b/a Longwood Health Care Center (Long- wood), requests certiorari review of an interlocutory order compelling discovery of notes prepared by Longwood’s director of nursing regarding a hip fracture sustained by Bonnie Olvera as she was being transferred from her bed to a wheelchair. The nursing director took notes and prepared an incident report during investigation of the injury. The notes were taken as part of an internal investigation of the incident and as part of a risk management investigation. The notes were not made a part of the incident report but were kept in a folder with statements on all other risk management investigations.
We conclude that the notes were prepared in anticipation of possible litigation and are privileged and protected unless Olvera can show a need for them and can establish an inability to obtain equivalent materials without undue hardship. See, Alachua General Hospital v. Zimmer, USA Inc., 403 So. 2d 1087 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981) (an investigator cannot be required, in a discovery deposition, to reveal, the contents of communications prepared in anticipation of litigation or reports relating to circumstances of incident or investigation thereof, absent proof of need and inability to obtain the materials without undue hardship).
We grant Longwood’s petition, issue the writ and quash the order compelling production of the nursing director’s notes.
PETITION GRANTED; WRIT ISSUED.
W. SHARP, PETERSON and ANTOON, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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McRAE'S, Inc. v. Moreland, 765 So. 2d 196 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000)…d arise from the incident. See Waste Management, Inc. v. Florida Power & Light Co., 571 So. 2d 507 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990); Anchor Nat'l Fin. Servs., Inc. v. Smeltz, 546 So. 2d 760 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989); see also Beverly Enterprises-Florida, Inc. v. Olvera, 734 So. 2d 589 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999)(holding that nursing director’s notes regarding investigation of a patient’s injury were work product because they were “prepared in anticipation of possible litigation”); but see Cotton States Mut. Ins. Co. v. Turtle Reef Assocs…
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1620 Health P'rs, L.C. v. Fluitt, 830 So. 2d 935 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002)…2d 1269 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001). Petitioner asserts that the incident reports at issue were generated and used in anticipation of litigation, as was evidenced by an exemplar prepared for the trial court. Relying on Beverly Enters.-Fla., Inc. v. Olvera, 734 So. 2d 589 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999), petitioner argues that the privilege was properly asserted and should have been protected. In Olvera, the Fifth District held that a nursing home director’s notes regarding a patient’s hip injury, which were taken as part of an…
Authorities Cited
- Alachua Gen. Hosp., Inc. v. Zimmer USA, Inc., 403 So. 2d 1087 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)