LINDA PRATER, APPELLANT,
v.
COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CENTER, LLC, ET AL., APPELLEES

Fla. 3d DCA | 2016-01-20
No. 3D14-2164
Before SHEPHERD, LAGOA and EMAS, JJ.
185 So. 3d 559 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2016) Positive Treatment
Cited by 7 cases

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Synopsis

The appellate court reversed a trial court's decision to strike a plaintiff's pleadings and enter a final judgment for the defendants. The appellate court found that the trial court abused its discretion by imposing the most severe sanction for the late disclosure of a single piece of evidence, which could have been remedied by less drastic measures.


Holding

Yes, the trial court abused its discretion. The appellate court held that the sanction of striking pleadings and entering a final judgment was not commensurate with the violation, as less severe sanctions, such as prohibiting the document's use or awarding attorney's fees and costs, could have adequately remedied the situation.


Headnotes

[1] Striking a party's pleadings and entering a final judgment as a sanction is the most severe sanction available and should only be employed in extreme circumstances.

[2] The severity of a sanction imposed by a court must be commensurate with the violation at issue.

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Key Quotes

“Because the violation could have been remedied appropriately and satisfactorily by the court either prohibiting the document from being introduced or referred to during trial, or alternatively by awarding attorney’s fees and costs caused by the late discovery and disclosure, the present situation did not warrant imposition of the most extreme sanction.”

This quote explains why the appellate court found the trial court's sanction to be an abuse of discretion.

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Facts & Procedural History

The plaintiff's counsel discovered an electronic copy of a prescription note on the eve of jury selection. Although the plaintiff's counsel immediatel…

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Opinion of the Court
EMAS, J.

EMAS, J.

Plaintiff, Linda Prater, appeals the trial court’s order striking her pleadings and entering final judgment in favor of the Defendants, Comprehensive Health Center, LLC, Rose-May Seide, M.D. and Phil-lipe Louis Jacques, P.A. For the reasons set forth herein, we reverse.

At the heart of this appeal is the 'late disclosure of a single piece of evidence which Prater’s counsel discovered on the eve of the first day of jury selection: an electronic cbpy of a page from a prescription pad from Comprehensive’s office with the handwritten words “Prilosec OTC” scrawled across it. There was no patient name, no date and no doctor’s signature ón the document. Although Dr. Seide testified that the words on thé document appeared to. be in her handwriting, her medical records detailing Prater’s visit contained no indication that Dr. Seide prescribed or recommended this medication to Prater.1

*560When Prater’s counsel discovered the electronic copy of this document in his computer records, he immediately notified defense counsel, and the issue was addressed in court the next morning, prior to the resumption of jury selection. The trial court initially indicated that if Plaintiff had not previously produced the document, this was a violation of the pretrial order and it would be excluded from trial. Nevertheless, after Plaintiffs counsel explained the circumstances surrounding the late discovery of the document2, the court instead gave Prater two options: (i) she could proceed to trial without using or referring to the document, or (ii) she could agree to a mistrial3 and potentially bear the attorney’s fees and costs associated with the mistrial. Prater accepted the latter alternative, the jury panel was stricken, and the court reserved ruling, pending, further discovery, on whether attorney’s fees and costs would be awarded.

What ensued was a subsequent - sanctions hearing, followed by a court-ordéred depbsition to discern the “chain of custody” of the late-discovered document and efforts to locate the original, and then another sanctions hearing. At the second sanctions hearing, the court, in a contentious exchange with Prater’s counsel, eventually ordered Prater’s pleadings be stricken due to what it deemed was the satisfaction of all seven factors set forth in Kozel v. Ostendorf, 629 So.2d 817 (Fla.1993).

We find it unnecessary to further detail the course of the proceedings leading up to the trial court’s decision to strike Prater’s pleadings and enter final judgment in favor of Defendants. Suffice it to say that there was not competent substantial evidence to support the trial court’s conclusions that each of the Kozel factors had been met, including the absence of record support for a finding that the actions of Prater’s counsel were willful, deliberate or contumacious, and a finding that Prater’s counsel had been previously sanctioned. More significantly, the,trial court’s imposition of the ultimate sanction — the striking of Prater’s pleadings and entry of final judgment in favor of Defendants — was not commensurate with the violation at issue. Turner v. Anderson, 376 So.2d 899 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979) (holding that “the severity of the sanction must be commensurate with the violation.”) See also Mercer v. Raine, 443 So.2d 944 (Fla.1983) (finding “the' striking of pleadings or entering a default for noncompliance with an order compelling discoveicy is the most severe of all sanctions which should be employed only in extreme circumstances.”) Because the violation could have been remedied appropriately and satisfactorily by the court either prohibiting the document from being introduced or referred to during trial, or alternatively by awarding attorney’s *561fees and costs caused by the late discovery and disclosure,4 the present situation did not warrant imposition of the most extreme sanction. The court’s action was an abuse of discretion.

We therefore, reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.


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Citator

Cited By

  • U.S. Bank Nat'l Ass'n v. Rodriguez, 206 So. 3d 734 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016)
    …discretion.”). But the trial court’s discretion is not absolute. In cases where the trial court’s crucial findings were unsupported by the record, appellate courts have not hesitated to reverse. See, e.g., Prater v. Comprehensive Health Ctr., LLC, 185 So. 3d 559, 560 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016) (“[Tjhere was not competent substantial evidence to support the trial court’s conclusions that each of the Kozel factors had been met, including the absence of record support for a finding that the actions of [Plaintiffs] cou…
  • City of Miami v. Vilma Marcos (Fla. 3d DCA 2025)
    …entering a default. See Carbonell v. Glade, 394 So. 3d 679, 681 (Fla. 3d DCA 2024) (“We review the orders striking pleadings and entering default judgment . . . under an abuse of discretion standard.”); Prater v. Comprehensive Health Ctr., LLC, 185 So. 3d 559, 560 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016) (“[T]here was not competent substantial evidence to support the trial court’s conclusions that each of the Kozel factors had been met, including the absence of record support for a finding that the actions of [Plaintiff’s]…
  • Atkin v. Kane, 246 So. 3d 574 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)
    …any further defense of the action and the resulting entry of final judgment— was simply too severe under the circumstances presented and was not commensurate with the conduct and actions at bar. See, e.g., Prater v. Comprehensive Health Ctr., LLC, 185 So. 3d 559, 560 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016). 1 Atkin also seeks to appeal the trial court’s order which determined only entitlement to attorney’s fees pursuant to section 57.105, Florida Statutes (2016) but deferred a determination of the amount of those fees. We dism…

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