NORTH BROWARD HOSPITAL DISTRICT D/B/A NORTH BROWARD MEDICAL CENTER, PETITIONER,
v.
TARVES DURHAM, RESPONDENT
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A hospital district sought certiorari review of a trial court order denying a stay and directing production of peer review and incident reports in a medical malpractice case. The appellate court quashed the trial court's orders and remanded, finding that the hospital was denied due process when the trial court ruled on discovery objections without proper notice and an opportunity to be heard.
The trial court departed from the essential requirements of law by ruling on the hospital's discovery objections without adequate notice and opportunity to be heard, violating due process. The appellate court rejected the hospital's argument for prospective application of Amendment 7, finding it applies retroactively per the Florida Supreme Court's decision in Florida Hospital Waterman v. Buster. The orders were quashed and the case remanded for proper consideration of discovery objections.
[1] Certiorari lies to review trial court orders overruling claims of statutory privilege, including peer review privilege.
[2] A trial court departs from the essential requirements of law, causing material and irreparable harm, by overruling discovery objections without adequate notice and an opp…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“We agree with petitioner that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law causing material and irreparable harm in overruling its peer review objections to discovery without adequate notice and an opportunity to be heard on them.”
Establishes the core holding that the trial court violated due process by ruling on discovery objections without proper notice and opportunity to be heard
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceNorth Broward Hospital District filed a motion for stay in a pending medical malpractice action, requesting deferral of ruling on its discovery object…
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PER CURIAM.
Petitioner North Broward Hospital District filed this petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of a trial court order denying a stay and directing it to produce incident reports, investigative reports and peer review records in a pending medical malpractice action, and an order denying rehearing and clarification.
Certiorari lies to review trial court orders overruling claims of statutory privilege, including peer review privilege as asserted here. See generally Allstate Ins. Co. v. Langston, 655 So. 2d 91 (Fla.1995); Morton Plant Hosp. Ass’n v. Shahbas ex rel. Shahbas, 960 So. 2d 820 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007); Tarpon Springs Gen. Hosp. v. Hudak, 556 So. 2d 831 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990). Review calls for a determination of whether the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law resulting in harm of a material nature which cannot be remedied on direct appeal.
We agree with petitioner that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law causing material and irreparable harm in overruling its peer review objections to discovery without adequate notice and an opportunity to be heard on them. Petitioner’s objections to discovery were never noticed for hearing, and respondent/plaintiff did not move to compel production of the requested documents. The trial court’s decision to entertain the discovery issues and rule on them at the hearing on petitioner’s motion for stay denied petitioner due process. See DeChellis v. DeChellis, 925 So. 2d 379 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006).
Petitioner did not seek a ruling on its objections to discovery when it requested a stay in the trial court. The motion for stay asked the trial court to defer ruling on petitioner’s objections to discovery until resolution of the cases pending before the Supreme Court of Florida — Notami Hospital of Florida, Inc. v. Bowen, 927 So. 2d 139 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006), and Florida Hospital Waterman, Inc. v. Buster, 932 So. 2d 344 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006). Those cases concerned challenges to Amendment 7, re-designated as article X, section 25 of the Florida Constitution, and codified as section 381.028, Florida Statutes. This amendment provides the patients’ right to know about adverse medical incidents. The Supreme Court of Florida has since issued a consolidated opinion, ruling that the amendment is self-executing and applies retroactively to existing records. See Fla. Hosp. Waterman, Inc. v. Buster, 984 So. 2d 478 (Fla.2008). This decision allows us to lift our previous stay order in this case.
Petitioner did not waive the peer review, work product or any other privilege by failing to file a privilege log in this case prior to the hearing on its motion for stay. The issues raised in the motion for stay were threshold issues which had to be resolved before discovery objections could be considered by the trial court after notice to petitioner. Based on the supreme court’s decision in Florida Hospital Waterman, we reject petitioner’s argument that Amendment 7 should have prospective application only. Nonetheless, since petitioner has been denied due process in this case, we quash the trial court’s orders and remand for further proceedings in the trial court on petitioner’s discovery objections.
Petition granted, order quashed and cause remanded for further proceedings.
STONE, STEVENSON and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.
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Citator
Cited By
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W. Fla. Reg'l Med. Ctr., Inc. v. SEE, 18 So. 3d 676 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009)…4th DCA 2009). A challenge to the burdensomeness of a discovery request is such a threshold issue, id., as is a challenge to the constitutionality of Amendment 7 if it relates to the discovery requests at issue, see N. Broward Hosp. Dist. v. Durham, 991 So. 2d 967 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008). We interpret the trial court’s order as ruling on these threshold issues only. Petitioner’s obligation to file a privilege log did not attach until the trial court decided these threshold issues. Nothing in the trial court’s or…
Authorities Cited
- Allstate Ins. Co. v. Langston, 655 So. 2d 91 (Fla. 1995)
- Fla. Hosp. Waterman, Inc. v. Buster, 984 So. 2d 478 (Fla. 2008)
- Morton Plant Hosp. Ass'n, Inc. v. Shahbas, 960 So. 2d 820 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007)
- Notami Hosp. OF Fla., Inc. v. Bowen, 927 So. 2d 139 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006)
- Fla. Hosp. Waterman, Inc. v. Buster, 932 So. 2d 344 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006)
- C.L.B. v. State, 556 So. 2d 831 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990)
- Monts v. State, 925 So. 2d 379 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006)