NATURAL SOLUTIONS CORPORATION, LOUIS A. ISAKOFF AND JIMMY W. FOSHEE, PETITIONERS,
v.
TERRABIND INTERNATIONAL, INC., RICHARD WEINERT, RICHARD JURGENSON AND JOSEPH KROLL, RESPONDENTS
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Petitioners sought certiorari review of an order compelling production of documents from NSC's former counsel's file in a malicious prosecution and abuse of process action. The court granted the petition in part, quashing the order only as to petitioner NSC based on the automatic bankruptcy stay, while denying relief for individual petitioners Foshee and Isakoff who possessed and produced the documents themselves.
The court granted the petition and quashed the order for production as it relates to petitioner NSC because the automatic bankruptcy stay prevented the trial court from continuing proceedings against NSC without relief from the stay. However, the court denied relief as to petitioners Foshee and Isakoff because they individually possessed the documents and had already produced them in response to the trial court's order, and the automatic stay does not apply to non-bankrupt individuals.
[1] The filing of a bankruptcy petition automatically stays all judicial proceedings against the debtor.
[2] A party asserting an "advice of counsel" defense may waive attorney-client and work product privileges regarding communications with counsel.
Previewing 2 of 5 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“the trial court departed from the essential requirements of the law in compelling petitioner NSC to produce the documents in question because all proceedings against NSC were automatically stayed following the filing of its bankruptcy petition and no relief from the automatic stay had been granted”
Establishes the core holding that bankruptcy automatic stay prevents trial court from compelling document production from bankrupt entity
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceNSC sued respondents and was represented by counsel James McCann. NSC voluntarily dismissed that lawsuit. Respondents then sued NSC, Isakoff, and Fosh…
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PER CURIAM.
Petitioners, Natural Solutions Corporation (NSC), Louis A. Isakoff, and Jimmy W. Foshee, seek certiorari review of an order compelling production of documents contained in NSC’s former counsel’s file. We grant the petition and quash the order only as to petitioner NSC.
Respondents, Terrabind International, Inc., Richard Weinert, Richard Jurgenson, and Joseph Kroll, sued petitioners for abuse of process and malicious prosecution after NSC voluntarily dismissed its earlier lawsuit against respondents. Respondents alleged that the underlying action by NSC lacked merit. In that lawsuit, NSC was initially represented by James McCann of Akerman, Senterfitt & Eidson, P.A.1 As an affirmative defense to respondents’ claims for abuse of process and malicious prosecution, petitioners asserted that NSC’s lawsuit was initiated and prosecuted upon the advice of its then-counsel, McCann. Thereafter, respondents deposed McCann and subpoenaed documents from his file. Petitioners asserted privilege objections to the deposition questions and subpoenaed documents. Following an in camera inspection, the trial court found that the documents were protected by the attorney-client and work product privileges; however, it ruled that the privileges were waived by petitioners’ assertion of an “advice of counsel” defense to the lawsuit brought against them for malicious prosecution and abuse of process. As support, the trial court relied on First Southern Baptist Church of Mandarin, Florida, Inc. v. First National Bank of Amarillo, 610 So. 2d 452 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992), and Savino v. Luciano, 92 So. 2d 817 (Fla.1957).
On June 3, 2002, approximately three months before the court ordered disclosure of the documents, NSC filed a bankruptcy petition in Reno, Nevada. On June 6, 2002, NCS filed a Suggestion of Bankruptcy with the trial court. When respondents sought disclosure of the McCann file and moved for an in camera inspection, petitioners objected, arguing that the trial court lacked authority to continue any judicial proceedings, or otherwise take any action against NSC, because of NSC’s pending bankruptcy and the automatic stay imposed by 11 U.S.C. § 362.
We agree with petitioners that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of the law in compelling petitioner NSC to produce the documents in question because all proceedings against NSC were automatically stayed following the filing of its bankruptcy petition and no relief from the automatic stay had been granted. See Personalized Air Conditioning, Inc. v. C.M. Sys. of Pinellas County, Inc., 522 So. 2d 465, 466 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988). The automatic stay, however, does not apply to petitioners Foshee and Isa-koff, who have not filed for bankruptcy.2
Petitioners also argue that the petition should be granted as to petitioners Isakoff and Foshee because they do not possess any documents to produce pursuant to the court’s order. They assert that NSC was the only plaintiff in the prior action against respondents and thus the only party that generated and received attorney-client privileged documents in the underlying action. However, the record shows that Foshee and Isakoff filed a privilege log indicating that they were individually in possession of the requested documents and a Notice of Compliance stating that they had individually produced these documents in response to the trial court’s order. We conclude that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of the law only in compelling petitioner NSC to produce the McCann file. Therefore, we grant the petition and quash the order for production only as it relates to petitioner NSC.
GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.
FARMER, STEVENSON and TAYLOR, JJ., concur. . McCann later withdrew from representing NSC and was succeeded by attorneys James Stroup and Farris Martin.
. We do not address petitioners' argument that only the bankruptcy trustee could waive NSC's attorney-client privilege as this issue was not raised and presented to the trial judge. See, e.g., Leonhardt v. Masters, 679 So. 2d 73, 74 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996); Sparta State Bank v. Pape, 477 So. 2d 3, 4 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985).
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Sovereign Healthcare OF Port ST. Lucie, LLC v. Fernandes, 132 So. 3d 855 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013)…t presented here in the trial court, as the answer to the objected-to interrogatory proffered by petitioner does not reference state constitutional or statutory authority on the privacy question. See Natural Solutions Corp. v. Terrabind Int’l, Inc., 840 So. 2d 387, 388 n. 2 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003). Second, the trial court’s order did not depart from the essential requirements of law. Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280(b)(1) defines the general scope of discovery as including the “identity and location of pers…
Authorities Cited
- Savino v. Janies Luciano, 92 So. 2d 817 (Fla. 1957)
- Personalized AIR Conditioning, Inc. v. C.M. Sys. OF Pinellas Cnty., Inc., 522 So. 2d 465 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988)
- Sparta State Bank v. Pape, 477 So. 2d 3 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985)
- Leonhardt v. Zulfikar Masters, 679 So. 2d 73 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996)
- First S. Baptist Church OF Mandarin v. The First Nat'l Bank OF Amarillo, 610 So. 2d 452 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)