Summary
holding that the petitioner did not meet its burden of establishing that the requested materials were work product prepared in anticipation of litigation
Summary of this case from Universal City v. PupilloOpinion
No. 90-3467.
April 10, 1991.
Petition from the Circuit Court, Palm Beach County, Edward A. Garrison, J.
Lori M. Ferman of Conroy, Simberg Lewis, P.A., Hollywood, for petitioner.
Robert C. Groelle of Powers McNalis, Lake Worth, for respondents.
Petitioner challenged by way of certiorari an order of the trial court compelling the production of material petitioner claimed was privileged as work product or attorney/client privilege. We deny the petition. The record, as opposed to the unsupported statements in the petition, does not show that petitioner carried its burden of establishing that any particular document was privileged so as to preclude its production. See Surette v. Galiardo, 323 So.2d 53 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975). While petitioner claims that much of what was requested is work product, there is no showing whether the materials in question were prepared in anticipation of litigation with respondents or were investigations conducted during the normal business of evaluating the claim made by respondents, petitioner's insured. See e.g. Cotton States Mut. Ins. Co. v. Turtle Reef Associates, Inc., 444 So.2d 595 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984). Furthermore, nothing in the record indicates that any documents are protected by attorney/client privilege. If petitioner thought some documents might be protected by either privilege, it should have listed the specific documents to which it claimed the privilege attaches. Otherwise, neither the trial court nor this court has anything specific to address.
DELL, GUNTHER and WARNER, JJ., concur.