SPRINGHILL HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATES, LLC, ET AL., PETITIONERS,
v.
LINDA BENLEIN, PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF, ETC., RESPONDENT
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.
Florida appellate court granted certiorari and quashed trial court's discovery order because the trial court failed to conduct in camera inspection to determine whether documents were protected by statutory privileges under Florida law before ordering production.
A trial court must conduct an in camera inspection to determine the precise nature and applicability of claimed privileges before ordering production of documents in discovery.
[1] Before ordering production of documents claimed to be privileged, a trial court must conduct an in camera inspection to determine the precise nature of the documents and…
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 intelligenceSpringhill Health Care Associates sought to withhold certain documents from discovery, asserting statutory privileges under Florida law. The trial cou…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Statutory Privilege cases and more on FLexlaw
We grant the petition for writ of certio-rari because the trial court departed from the essential requirements of the law by ordering the production of documents and *625an answer to interrogatories without first conducting an in camera inspection to determine the precise nature of the ostensibly privileged documents and to further determine the applicability of the work product and statutory privileges.
Specifically, with respect to the document dated December 8, 2007, the trial court should determine if it is discoverable pursuant to section 400.147(4), Florida Statutes (2011). See Manner Health Care of Metrowest, Inc. v. Best, 879 So.2d 65, 67 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004) (if record discoverable pursuant to section 400.147(4), need and inability to obtain substantial equivalent from other sources without undue hardship must be shown). As to the document dated December 10, 2007 (and all documents identified by Bates numbers 00032-55), the trial court must determine whether these documents fall within the privilege identified in section 400.147(8)(d), or any other applicable privilege asserted by Springhill Health Care Associates, LLC, in its response. Concerning the last document, although we view the assertion of privilege with some skepticism given the nature of the document, the trial court should consider the applicability of section 415.107(1), before compelling the production of the document. Additionally, the trial court should also address the claimed privileges to the interrogatory.
PETITION GRANTED; ORDER QUASHED.
GRIFFIN, SAWAYA and TORPY, JJ„ concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Mariner Health Care OF Metrowest, Inc. v. Ada Best, 879 So. 2d 65 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004)