Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal today granted a petition for writ of certiorari filed by Publix Super Markets, Inc., and quashed a trial court order that had required the supermarket chain to turn over privileged work product documents prepared by its risk management team in connection with a premises liability incident. WSH’s Appellate Practice Group members Edward G. Guedes and Laura K. Wendell, represented Publix and took the unusual approach of asking the appellate court to engage in an in camera inspection of the privileged documents, since the documents represented evidence available to establish the applicability of the privilege. In adopting the appellate team’s argument, the Fourth District adopted a very favorable view of the privilege in premises liability cases, highlighting the practical realities that retailers face when these incidents occur on their premises.
You can read a copy of the Opinion here.
Author(s): Edward G. Guedes
