Pinakatt v. Mercy Hospital, Inc.
| Decision Date | 03 February 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-2435,79-2435 |
| Citation | 394 So.2d 441 |
| Parties | Teresamma PINAKATT, Appellant, v. MERCY HOSPITAL, INC., Sister Mary Immaculate Moraglia, Jessie Birdseye, R.N., and Michael Schuster, Appellees. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Kurzban & Kurzban and Steven M. Weinger, Miami, for appellant.
Corlett, Merritt, Killian & Sikes and Gerald E. Rosser, Miami, for appellees.
Before HENDRY, NESBITT and FERGUSON, JJ.
This appeal is from an order dismissing appellant's complaint for failure to comply with discovery orders.
Appellant Teresamma Pinakatt, the plaintiff below, was employed as an EKG technician by Mercy Hospital until she was fired for unsatisfactory performance. After her discharge, appellant sued in four counts alleging that appellees 1 individually and as a group sought to deprive appellant of her livelihood in the medical field. The trial court subsequently dismissed three of the four counts without leave to amend for failure to state a cause of action.
Litigation continued as to the remaining count which alleged common law conspiracy. In the meantime, appellant obtained a position in the medical field with a new employer. Despite discovery requests from the appellees, appellant refused to divulge the name of her new employer and the name of a former employer. The basis for appellant's refusal was her apprehension that appellees would attempt to deprive her of her present job.
The trial court entered an order on motion to compel the appellant to disclose this information. She again refused, declining an extension of time in which to reveal her employers. As a result, the trial court entered an order striking the remaining count of appellant's complaint and dismissing the action with prejudice. It is from this order of dismissal that appeal is taken. We find no reversible error.
The Florida Rules of Civil Procedure provide sanctions which may be taken when a party fails to make discovery. Rule 1.380(b)(2)(C) states, inter alia, that:
(b) Failure to Comply With Order
(2) If a party ... fails to obey an order to provide or permit discovery ... the court in which the action is pending may make any of the following orders:
(C) An order striking out pleadings or parts of them or staying further proceedings until the order is obeyed, or dismissing the action or proceeding or any part of it, or rendering a judgment by default against the disobedient party; (e.s.) A decision to impose sanctions, and the severity thereof, are matters within the sound discretion of the trial court. W.G.C., Inc. v. The Man Co., 360 So.2d 1152 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978). The trial court's ruling should not be overturned unless there is an apparent abuse of this discretion. Eastern Airlines, Inc. v. Dixon, 310 So.2d 336 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975).
Clearly then, a trial court is vested with the authority to dismiss a complaint as a sanction against a plaintiff for failure to make discovery:
When a plaintiff invokes the jurisdiction of a court and seeks to avail himself of it he does so with the understanding that he must abide by all lawful statutes, rules and orders applicable to him, and the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Kranz v. Levan, 91-558
...(Fla.3d DCA 1981); American Fidelity Fire Ins. Co. v. Woody's Elec. Serv., Inc., 407 So.2d 947 (Fla.3d DCA 1981); Pinakatt v. Mercy Hosp., Inc., 394 So.2d 441 (Fla.3d DCA 1981); Overseas Equip. Co. v. Aceros Arquitectonicos, 374 So.2d 537 (Fla.3d DCA 1979); City of Miami Beach v. Chadderton......
-
Buckner v. Lower Florida Keys Hospital Dist.
...has been abused in violation of orders of court the ultimate sanction of dismissal is sometimes appropriate. Pinakatt v. Mercy Hospital, Inc., 394 So.2d 441 (Fla.3d DCA 1981). This pleading effort was prolix, 1 duplicitous, 2 scandalous, and impertinent. 3 Despite the apparent admonitions o......
-
Devault v. Steven L. Herndon, A Professional Ass'n
...& Wrestling Comm'n, 442 F.2d 1047 (9th Cir.1971), cert. den. 404 U.S. 1039, 92 S.Ct. 715, 30 L.Ed.2d 731 (1972); Pinakatt v. Mercy Hospital, Inc., 394 So.2d 441 (Fla.App.1981); Spencer v. McLaughlin, 256 So.2d 385 (Fla.App.1972); Lerman v. Portland, 406 A.2d 903 (Me.1979), cert. den. 446 U.......
-
Watson v. Peskoe
...Diversified, Inc., 396 So.2d 1228 (Fla.2d DCA 1981) (defendant failed three times to appear for deposition); Pinakatt v. Mercy Hospital, Inc., 394 So.2d 441 (Fla.3d DCA 1981) (plaintiff failed to comply with discovery order requiring her to disclose names of present and former employers); F......