Debra Sue Rodriguez and MacEdonio Coc Rodriguez v. Donna Marie Currey

Summary

The Fifth District Court of Appeal of Florida granted in part a certiorari petition challenging an order compelling production of the petitioner's medical records from the five years preceding an automobile accident. The court held that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law by ordering production without conducting an in-camera review to exclude records irrelevant to the negligence action. The order was quashed and the case remanded for an in-camera inspection.

Holdings

1. An order compelling disclosure of medical records that may be irrelevant to the pending lawsuit causes irreparable harm because the constitutional privacy injury cannot be remedied on appeal.
2. When a litigant asserts a constitutional privacy interest in medical records and relevancy cannot be determined from the pleadings or subpoena alone, the trial court must conduct an in-camera inspection and disclose only records relevant to the litigation.
3. Certiorari relief was denied on the third-party-vendor issue because Rodriguez identified no clearly established Florida appellate law governing that issue.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the order compelling production of Rodriguez's medical records caused irreparable harm sufficient to support certiorari jurisdiction.
2. Whether the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law by ordering production of all medical records from the five years preceding the accident without an in-camera inspection.
3. Whether certiorari relief should be granted regarding disclosure of the records to a third-party discovery vendor when no clearly established Florida appellate law governed that issue.

Disposition

quashed