Allstate Ins. Co. v. Langston on Behalf of Langston, 93-2354
| Decision Date | 27 October 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-2354,93-2354 |
| Citation | 627 So.2d 1178 |
| Parties | 18 Fla. L. Weekly D2295 ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, Petitioner, v. Joyce LANGSTON on behalf of minor child, Shanard LANGSTON, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Richard A. Sherman, Law Offices of Richard A. Sherman, P.A. and David L. Taylor, Law Offices of Leonard C. Bishop, Fort Lauderdale, for petitioner.
Darryl L. Lewis, William N. Hutchinson, Jr., P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for respondent.
Allstate Insurance Company requests relief by writ of certiorari from an order compelling discovery of materials claimed to be irrelevant and privileged.
The respondent, Joyce Langston, on behalf of her minor child, filed a complaint seeking uninsured motorist benefits for personal injuries resulting from a motor vehicle accident. The complaint does not contain claims of bad faith or unfair claims practices. The respondent requested production of the following documents as part of a multi-paragraph discovery request:
3. All internal procedural memos regarding the handling of uninsured motorist claims in effect during the last twelve (12) months.
4. Your latest claims manual on processing and handling of uninsured motorist claims in general.
5. A copy of your standards for the proper investigation of claims that were in effect at any time during the last twenty-four months (24) months.
6. All correspondence to or from anyone, including any insurance agencies, any doctors' offices, any employers, any agencies hired to select doctors for "independent medical examinations" and any law enforcement agencies for the uninsured motorist claim involved herein.
Petitioner filed timely objections to paragraphs 3, 4 and 5, asserting "work product, irrelevant, overbroad and vague" and raising a "work product" objection only as to paragraph 6. 1 The trial court overruled all objections finding that the request for production did not seek "any specific claims file, but the procedure followed in processing claims files in general."
The petitioner contends that the trial court compelled irrelevant and privileged discovery. We find no basis in the record for petitioner's assertion that the documents requested in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 are work product or within the attorney-client privilege. We do agree that from the face of the request that the documents sought in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5, consisting of internal procedural memos, claims manuals and standards for proper investigation of claims, appear irrelevant to a lawsuit involving a claim for uninsured motorist benefits where no claim of bad faith or unfair claim practices has been made. The respondent has not offered an explanation regarding the purported relevancy of such discovery in this lawsuit. However, even if the discovery were irrelevant, that alone is not a basis for granting the extraordinary remedy of certiorari, unless the disclosure of the materials "may reasonably cause material injury of an irreparable nature." Martin-Johnson, Inc. v. Savage, 509 So.2d 1097, 1100 (Fla.1987). Petitioner has not demonstrated that the requested materials fall...
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Squealer Feeds v. Pickering, 94-17
...that the production of privileged documents prior to judicial review does result in irreparable injury. Allstate Ins. Co. v. Langston, 627 So.2d 1178, 1179 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1993) (certiorari, only available to prevent irreparable injury, was granted to decide if materials fell within the wo......
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Allstate Ins. Co. v. Langston
...William N. Hutchinson, Jr., P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for respondent. HARDING, Justice. We have for review Allstate Insurance Co. v. Langston, 627 So.2d 1178, 1179 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993). Allstate argues that the decision below expressly and directly conflicts with Martin-Johnson, Inc. v. Savage,......
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Holland v. Barfield
...of an irreparable nature.’ ” State Farm Gen. Ins. Co. v. Grant, 641 So.2d 949, 952 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994) (quoting Allstate Ins. Co. v. Langston, 627 So.2d 1178 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993)). This case is very similar to Menke, 916 So.2d 8, where the court issued a writ of certiorari and quashed the tr......
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Eberhardt v. Eberhardt, 95-3986
...were irrelevant, reasoning that the disclosure would not "cause material injury of an irreparable nature.". Allstate Ins. Co. v. Langston, 627 So.2d 1178 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) (citing Martin-Johnson v. Savage, 509 So.2d 1097, 1100 (Fla.1987)). The supreme court granted review, finding conflic......