When you communicate with your attorney, you probably assume these conversations are privileged after all you need to be able to disclose any and everything to counsel to properly litigate your adversarial Palm Beach Probate matter. Can a Court order your attorney to produce those discussions? What type of process is used by the court to ensure that your private information vital to your Delray Will contest is protected? A recent case out of the Fourth DCA, FPL v. Hicks shows the process quite well.
- Normally conduct between you and your attorney is privileged same with communications between an expert witness and the attorney and memos they produce together.
- These documents that attorneys regularly create is called attorney work product and is considered privileged but under certain circumstances a court may order they be produced to the opposing side in a process known as discovery.
- Do you know what the court will look to before they disclose such evidence? Is the information something that the party could get otherwise without breaking confidentiality / privilege? Is the information necessary for the otherside to litigate and/or defend themselves?
The Fourth DCA Case of FPL v. Hicks, decided on April 15, 2015 , Case No. 4D14-4337 highlights a bit of the process of determining if privileged material should be produced. Is this the same process you could expect in Delray Beach Probate Court?
- The Plaintiff here originally alerted a regulatory agency to certain violations of the corporate Defendant and then claimed they were harassed for being a whistleblower. They sued the Defendants as a result.
- Plaintiff requested certain attorney work product and the defendants objected. The Court ultimately first held an in camera review whereby the judge looked over the documents to judge their value. He found almost without exception that the documents were necessary to litigate the claim.
- Do you agree with the result? If this were your private financial documents would you want to reveal them just because you and a relative are involved in a probate dispute regarding your father’s home in Jupiter?
Want to read more? Check out the entire case of FPL v. Hicks, by clicking here.