Summary
holding the "assessment of a fine in the discovery context must be predicated on a finding of contempt"
Summary of this case from Barak v. ACS Int'l Projects, Ltd.Opinion
No. 98-4131
Opinion filed April 7, 1999 JANUARY TERM 1999
Petition for writ of certiorari to the Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Moses Baker, Jr., Judge; L.T. Case No. CL 97-1439 AD.
Anne Desormier-Cartwright of Lewis, Vegosen, Rosenbach, Silber Dunkel, P.A., West Palm Beach, for petitioners.
Theresa A. DiPaola of Ricci, Hubbard, Leopold, Frankel Farmer, P.A., West Palm Beach, for respondent.
Petitioners, defendants below, seek certiorari review of a nonfinal order granting the plaintiff'ssecond motion to enforce the court's order and motion for sanctions, finding Petitioners' failure to produce the requested documents was willful and intentional, ordering production within thirty days, and ordering a fine in the amount of $1,000 per day from the thirty-first day until full compliance. We grant the petition in part, and quash that part of the order on review which imposes a monetary fine without a finding of contempt.
The assessment of a fine in the discovery context must be predicated on a finding of contempt. See Hoffman v. Hoffman, 23 Fla. L. Weekly D1539 (Fla. 4th DCA June 24, 1998); Hoffman v. Hoffman, 718 So.2d 371 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998); Paramount Advisors, Inc. v. Schwartz, 591 So.2d 671, 673 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991) (citing Palm Shores v. Nobles, 149 Fla. 103, 5 So.2d 152 (1941)); Florida Physicians Ins. Reciprocal v. Baliton, 436 So.2d 1110, 1111 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983). The Respondent has not sought to have Petitioners held in contempt, so the trial court on remand may not clarify its order to include a contempt determination, as the respondent has suggested.
We find the other issues raised in the petition to be without merit and deny relief on those grounds without discussion.
POLEN, FARMER and HAZOURI, JJ., concur.