ERIC Z. BISHOP, SR., BY AND THROUGH ADULT COMPREHENSIVE PROTECTIVE SERVICES, INC., A NOT-FOR-PROFIT CORPORATION AS PLENARY GUARDIAN; ROSLYN BISHOP; AND LERON JASON BISHOP, PETITIONERS,
v.
MARK POLLES, R.N.; MARK B. NORSTEIN, M.D., P.A., D/B/A BAYWAY FAMILY PRACTICE; PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEE LEASING, INC.; RICHARD OLDENSKI, M.D.; STEVEN YEAGER, R.N.; BEBE SCHULMAN, M.D.; TIMOTHY BLEND, M.D.; EMERGENCY MEDICAL ASSOCIATES OF FLORIDA, L.L.C.; AND ST. ANTHONY'S HOSPITAL, INC., RESPONDENTS

Fla. 2d DCA | 2004-03-05
No. 2D03-3328
COVINGTON and WALLACE, JJ., concur.
872 So. 2d 272 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2004) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

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

In a medical malpractice case, the court granted in part a petition for certiorari challenging a trial court order compelling plaintiffs to answer discovery interrogatories. The court struck one interrogatory as overbroad and protected by attorney work product privilege, but upheld the trial court's order as to nine other interrogatories.


Holding

The court granted the petition in part, striking the order compelling an answer to interrogatory No. 23 as overbroad and seeking information protected by attorney work product privilege. The court upheld the trial court's order compelling answers to the nine remaining interrogatories.


Headnotes

[1] An interrogatory requesting documents a party "might conceivably offer as evidence" at trial is overbroad and improperly seeks information protected by the attorney work…

[2] Attorney work product includes personal views of attorneys regarding evidence presentation, evaluations of evidence importance, knowledge of witness testimony, personal n…

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

Key Quotes

“[pjersonal views of the attorneys as to how and when to present evidence, his evaluation of its relative importance, his knowledge of which witness will give certain testimony, personal notes and records as to witnesses, jurors, legal citations, proposed arguments, jury instructions, diagrams and charts he may refer to at trial for his convenience, but not to be used as evidence....”

Establishes the definition of attorney work product that is protected from discovery

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiffs filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against various medical defendants including nurses, physicians, and a hospital. During discovery, defe…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
CASANUEVA, Judge.

CASANUEVA, Judge.

The .petitioners are the plaintiffs in a medical malpractice lawsuit brought against the respondents. They filed this petition for certiorari during the discovery process when the trial court granted certain defendants’ motion to compel and ordered the plaintiffs to answer ten interrogatories posed by these defendants. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.100. See also Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Weeks, 696 So. 2d 855 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997). We grant the petition in part and deny it in part, striking only so much of the order that directs the plaintiffs to answer one interrogatory.

We find that the trial court did not otherwise depart from the essential requirements of law in compelling the plaintiffs to answer the remaining nine interrogatories, ordering them to utilize the assistance of counsel and/or any experts necessary to formulate their responses, requiring an indication of which plaintiff was responding to the discovery requests, requiring the responding plaintiff to sign his or her answers under oath, and allowing the plaintiffs to qualify their answers as necessary.

We set forth only the one interrogatory we find objectionable. Although it is propounded by defendant/respondent Dr. Schulman, it is representative of interrogatories of other defendants that suffer from the same defect: Interrogatory Number 23: Please identify with specificity and particularity each and every document or evidentiary object that the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs attorneys, investigators or agents have in their possession, or reasonably believe may bé in their possession, which may contain information pertaining to or evidencing any of the matters raised in the Complaint or pertaining to or evidencing any act or omission on the part of Bebe Schulman, M.D., which the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs attorneys contend contributed to any injury to Plaintiff or the Plaintiffs damages.

With respect to each document or object identified, please identify by name, business and residence, occupation, employer, and last known whereabouts, the present custodian thereof or such persons as the Plaintiff, Plaintiffs attorneys, investigators and agents reasonably believe might possess the document or object, or a copy thereof. This request specifically includes, but is not limited to, all documents or exhibits that the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs attorneys might conceivably offer as evidence at trial.

Although it is impossible to give a precise definition of “attorney work product” that can be applied to all situations, it can be generally defined as

[pjersonal views of the attorneys as to how and when to present evidence, his evaluation of its relative importance, his knowledge of which witness will give certain testimony, personal notes and records as to witnesses, jurors, legal citations, proposed arguments, jury instructions, diagrams and charts he may refer to at trial for his convenience, but not to be used as evidence....

Surf Drugs, Inc. v. Vermette, 236 So. 2d 108, 112 (Fla.1970). In Northup v. Howard W. Acken, M.D., P.A., 865 So. 2d 1267, 1270 (Fla.2004), our supreme court reiterated that those items a party “reasonably expect[s] or intend[s]” to utilize at trial are fully discoverable. However, this interrogatory requests items that a party “might conceivably offer as evidence” at trial, which do not meet the standard and are, accordingly, not discoverable. Thus, interrogatory number 23 is overbroad and improperly seeks information protected by the attorney work product privilege.

We grant the petition and strike that part of the trial court’s order compelling an answer to interrogatory number 23. In all other respects the petition for certiorari is denied.

COVINGTON and WALLACE, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • In re Commitment OF Duane Edwin Sutton v. State, 884 So. 2d 198 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004)
    …give certain testimony, personal notes and records as to witnesses, jurors, legal citations, proposed arguments, jury instructions, diagrams and charts he may refer to at trial for his convenience, but not to be used as evidence.” Bishop v. Polles, 872 So. 2d 272, 274 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004) (quoting Surf Drugs, Inc. v. Vermette, 236 So. 2d 108, 112 (Fla.1970)). The attorney-client privilege protects confidential communications between a lawyer and client. Jenney v. Airdata Wiman, Inc., 846 So. 2d 664 (Fla. 2d DC…
  • Grinnell Corp. v. The Palms 2100 Ocean Boulevard, Ltd., 924 So. 2d 887 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006)
    …egations of the complaint. I have been unable to find a single Florida decision holding that the type of request for production used in Gabriel invades work product, except for Bishop ex rel. Adult Comprehensive Protective Services, Inc., v. Polles, 872 So. 2d 272 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004). In Bishop the defendant asked the plaintiff to produce documents “which may contain information pertaining to or evidencing any of the matters raised in the Complaint or pertaining to or evidencing any act or omission on the par…
  • Steven and Tina Kranias v. Dimitrios Tsiogas, 941 So. 2d 1173 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006)
    …(Fla. 2d DCA2002). The circuit court’s order requiring the Petitioners to produce either a privilege log or documents upon which they rely to support their allegation in the complaint concerning the property deeds is overbroad. In Bishop v. Polles, 872 So. 2d 272, 274 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004), this court examined the following interrogatory: Please identify with specificity and particularity each and every document or evidentiary object that the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs attorneys, investigators or agents have in t…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw