Summary
quashing order compelling attorney to produce discovery materials, finding they were subject to retaining lien
Summary of this case from JUDY v. PREFERRED COMMUNICATION SYSTEMSOpinion
No. 4D06-1449.
July 5, 2006.
Appeal from the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court, Broward County, Susan F. Greenhawt, J.
Marc Shelowitz of Shelowitz, Shelowitz, Terrell Coffey, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for petitioner.
No response by respondent.
Former counsel for the wife in an ongoing dissolution of marriage proceeding seeks review of a nonfinal order granting her motion to release discovery papers to her, in spite of her delinquency in paying fees she owes the firm. The firm filed a notice of retaining lien. We grant the petition.
In granting release of the files, the trial court stated that the "firm does not have a contract or a court order granting a retaining lien." But the firm did have an implied-in-fact contract, even if not written, and did not need a court order to maintain its lien. Andrew Hall Assocs. v. Ghanem, 679 So.2d 60, 61-62 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996).
The order on review is capable of causing irreparable harm to the firm's retaining lien. Rutherford, Mulhall Wargo, P.A. v. Antidormi, 695 So.2d 1300 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997). Accordingly, the petition is granted and the order is hereby quashed.
Petition Granted.
POLEN, FARMER and KLEIN, JJ., concur.