Raul Suarez v. Courtney Alexander

Summary

The Florida Third District Court of Appeal granted a petition for writ of certiorari and partially quashed a discovery order in a personal injury action. The court held that requiring nonparty expert witnesses to execute and notarize interrogatory answers departed from Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.340 and that the order’s broad financial-bias discovery exceeded the permissible scope under applicable precedent and Rule 1.280.

Holdings

1. Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.340 authorizes interrogatories to parties, not nonparties. An order requiring nonparty experts to execute and notarize interrogatory answers, even through defendants acting as intermediaries, departs from the essential requirements of law and causes irreparable harm for certiorari purposes.
2. Absent unusual or compelling circumstances, an order requiring defendants to furnish any information concerning their experts' financial relationships with defendants, their attorneys, and insurers exceeds the scope of discovery authorized by Elkins, Boecher, and Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the circuit court departed from the essential requirements of law by requiring nonparty expert witnesses to execute and notarize answers to interrogatories.
2. Whether the circuit court departed from the essential requirements of law by requiring defendants to provide any information concerning their experts' financial relationships with defendants, their attorneys, and insurers.

Disposition

quashed