Hill v. Doughty

• Decision Date: 16 February 2000
• Parties: (Fla.App. 4 Dist. 2000) ROBERT J. HILL, MTLC INVESTMENT, LTD., MTLC MANAGEMENT CORP., PPC PRODUCTS CORP., SEMMICONDUCTORS, INC., HILL DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD., and RJH MANAGEMENT CORP., Petitioners, v. ANDREW DOUGHTY d/b/a A. D. RESOURCES, Respondent. ROBERT J. HILL, MTLC INVESTMENT, LTD., MTLC MANAGEMENT CORP., PPC PRODUCTS CORP., TECHNETT SEALS, INC., SEMMICONDUCTORS, INC., MINDY M. WEISS, LAURIL L. STOUGH, TAMARA JO VAUDREUIL, CONNIE SUE HILL, and PEGGY J. HILL a/k/a MARGARET J. HILL, Petitioners, v. ANDREW DOUGHTY d/b/a A. D. RESOURCES, Respondent. NO. 4D98-2758, NO. 4D98-2833 JANUARY TERM 2000
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 66

765 So.2d 66 (Fla.App. 4 Dist. 2000)

ROBERT J. HILL, MTLC INVESTMENT, LTD., MTLC MANAGEMENT CORP., PPC PRODUCTS CORP., SEMMICONDUCTORS, INC., HILL DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD., and RJH MANAGEMENT CORP., Petitioners, v. ANDREW DOUGHTY d/b/a A. D. RESOURCES, Respondent.

ROBERT J. HILL, MTLC INVESTMENT, LTD., MTLC MANAGEMENT CORP., PPC PRODUCTS CORP., TECHNETT SEALS, INC., SEMMICONDUCTORS, INC., MINDY M. WEISS, LAURIL L. STOUGH, TAMARA JO VAUDREUIL, CONNIE SUE HILL, and PEGGY J. HILL a/k/a MARGARET J. HILL, Petitioners, v. ANDREW DOUGHTY d/b/a A. D. RESOURCES, Respondent.

NO. 4D98-2758, NO. 4D98-2833

JANUARY TERM 2000

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FOURTH DISTRICT

February 16, 2000

Consolidated petitions for writ of certiorari tothe Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Leonard Stafford, and Patti Englander Henning, Judges; L.T. Case Nos. CACE98-7498-02, CACE 98-7498-03.

W. Jay Hunston, Jr. and Ronald E. Crescenzo of Boose Casey Ciklin Lubitz Martens McBane & O'Connell, West Palm Beach, for petitioners.

John M. Cooney of Bedzow, Korn, Brown, Miller & Zemel, P.A., Hallandale, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

The respondent in these related certiorari proceedings,¹ Andrew Doughty d/b/a A.D. Resources, is a judgment creditor seeking to domesticate and enforce a California judgment entered against, inter alia, Robert J. Hill, one of the petitioners here. Hill and various non-parties to the litigation seek a writ of certiorari quashing an order denying their motion for protective order and to quash subpoenas for various financial documents. They argue that the lower court is allowing Doughty to engage in burdensome, oppressive and unduly broad discovery and, additionally, that Doughty failed to establish any relationship between the judgment debtor, Hill, and the non-party petitioners.

We deny the petitions insofar as the orders allow discovery of financial information regarding the party-petitioner Hill, as Hill has failed to establish that the lower court departed from the essential requirements of law. However, we grant the writs of certiorari and quash the orders at issue insofar as the lower court permitted discovery concerning the non-party petitioners' financial records. The court departed from the essential requirements of law in allowing such discovery, because at the time the lower court considered and denied the motions for protective order and to quash the subpoenas, there was no...