HOWARD SLIGAR AND GEORGIA LEE SLIGAR, HIS WIFE, PETITIONERS,
v.
JOSEPH B. TUCKER, M. D., ET AL., RESPONDENTS

Fla. 4th DCA | 1972-09-12
No. 72-342
WALDEN and CROSS, JJ., concur.
267 So. 2d 54 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1972) Caution
Cited by 31 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

Plaintiffs in a medical malpractice action sought discovery of incident reports submitted by a hospital and physicians to their liability insurers. The court held that these reports were privileged as attorney work product and communications prepared at the insurer's request in anticipation of litigation, and therefore not subject to discovery despite plaintiffs' argument that they constituted business records.


Holding

The reports are privileged and not subject to discovery. Even if the incident reports could be characterized as business records under Florida law, they would retain their privileged status because they were prepared at the request of the insurers specifically for use in anticipating settlement or defense of potential claims.


Headnotes

[1] Reports made by defendants to their liability insurers concerning an event that foreseeably could be made the basis of an insurance claim are privileged and not subject t…

[2] Reports submitted to liability insurers at their request for use in connection with anticipated settlement or defense of a claim are privileged.

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Key Quotes

“There is no question but that the reports concerned an event which foreseeably could be (and in fact subsequently was) made the basis of a claim covered by the respective insurance policies of the hospital and the physicians, and there is no question but that such reports were submitted at the request of the respective insurers, for use in connection with the anticipated settlement or defense of the claim if and when it materialized. As such, these several reports were privileged and not subject to discovery.”

Establishes the test for privilege: reports prepared at insurers' request in anticipation of claim defense or settlement are protected from discovery

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Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiffs filed a negligence action against a hospital and physicians. The defendants submitted incident reports to their respective liability insure…

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Opinion of the Court
OWEN, Judge.

OWEN, Judge.

By petition for writ of certiorari the plaintiffs (in a negligence action against a hospital and certain physicians) seek review of an order denying the plaintiffs’ motion for production, inspection and copying of certain reports.

The evidence shows that the reports which plaintiffs sought to have produced were those which the several defendants made to their respective liability *55insurers. There is no question but that the reports concerned an event which foreseea-bly could be (and in fact subsequently was) made the basis of a claim covered by the respective insurance policies of the hospital and the physicians, and there is no question but that such reports were submitted at the request of the respective insurers, for use in connection with the anticipated settlement or defense of the claim if and when it materialized. As such, these several reports were privileged and not subject to discovery. Vann v. State, Fla. 1956, 85 So.2d 133 and cases cited therein. See also Grand Union Co. v. Patrick, Fla. App.1971, 247 So.2d 474.

Petitioners contend vigorously that since the hospital routinely required an “incident report” to be made and submitted by its personnel whenever any untoward event occurred in regard to patient care, such “incident report” became a part of the hospital’s business records under F.S. Section 92.36, F.S.A., and hence discoverable. The only evidence pertaining to the hospital’s obtaining such incident report comes from the deposition of the hospital administrator. This witness made it clear that the so-called “incident report” was a standard form provided by its liability insurer, that such reports were processed routinely by the several department heads or staff of the hospital in any situation where it appeared to them that there might be possible action or liability, and that such reports were then routinely submitted to the administrator who in turn forwarded the same to the liability insurer. Thus, it appears that factually such “incident reports” are not a part of the hospital business records as contemplated by F.S. Section 92.36, F.S.A., but even if they were, they would nonetheless retain their privileged status under the rationale of Vann v. State, supra.

It appearing that the trial court did not depart from the essential requirements of law in denying petitioners’ motion for an order requiring the production, inspection and copying of the above-described reports, the petition for writ of certiorari is denied.

Certiorari denied.

WALDEN and CROSS, JJ., concur.

SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION

It having been brought to the court’s attention that the name of counsel for petitioners was through inadvertence omitted from the opinion and decision of this court filed September 12, 1972, as a consequence of which neither petitioners nor their counsel were timely notified of the filing of the opinion nor furnished with copy thereof, it is upon consideration thereof

Ordered, upon the court’s own motion pursuant to Rule 3.14(a) F.A.R., 32 F.S.A., that the time for filing petition for rehearing is extended to and including Monday, October 9, 1972, and pursuant to Rule 3.15(a), F.A.R. the time for issuance of the mandate of this court is hereby extended until October 10, 1972, unless petition for rehearing shall be filed prior to that time in which event the mandate shall issue in accordance with Rule 3.15(b), F.A.R.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (16 total)

  • Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Varsenig Nakutis, 435 So. 2d 307 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983)
    …56); Florida Power & Light Company v. Lineburner, 390 So. 2d 133 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980); Fogarty v. Brothers Transfer Company v. Perkins, 250 So. 2d 655 (Fla.2d DCA 1971); Grand Union v. Patrick, 247 So. 2d 474, 475 (Fla.3d DCA 1971); Sligar v. Tucker, 267 So. 2d 54 (Fla. 4th DCA 1972). Rule 1.280(b)(2), Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, provides that “only upon a showing that the party seeking discovery has need of the materials in the preparation of his case and that he is unable without undue hardship to ob…
  • Anchor Nat'l Fin. Servs., Inc. v. Smeltz, 546 So. 2d 760 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989)
    …be made the basis of a claim. See, e.g., Florida Cypress Gardens, Inc. v. Murphy, 471 So. 2d 203 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985); Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Nakutis, 435 So. 2d 307 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983), review denied, 446 So. 2d 100 (Fla.1984); Sligar v. Tucker, 267 So. 2d 54 (Fla. 4th DCA), cert. denied, 271 So. 2d 146 (Fla.1972). Since the trial court found that the documents are not work product, she apparently did not determine whether respondents might be able to overcome the qualified privilege against disclosure…
  • Surette v. Galiardo, 323 So. 2d 53 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975)
    …hether the incident report was, in fact, prepared and submitted (to the insur [*58] er) for use in connection with an anticipated settlement or defense of a claim in which instance such report would be privileged. See Sligar v. Tucker, Fla.App.1972, 267 So. 2d 54. The decision in Vann v. State, Fla.1956, 85 So. 2d 133, 138, cited in Sligar, contains the following statement from 22 A.L.R.2d 659, 660: “ ‘According to the weight of authority, a report or other communication made by an insured to his liability…

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