Summary
granting a petition for writ of certiorari and quashing the discovery order of the trial court compelling petitioner, a nonparty parent of the defendant below, to produce three years of tax returns where the respondent failed to meet his burden to show any need for the discovery which would override the privacy rights of the nonparty, holding that "before ordering the tax returns sought, the trial court must conduct an in camera review of the tax returns to ascertain whether they contain information relevant to the dispute between the parties."
Summary of this case from Ross v. Fly Me to the Moon, LLCOpinion
Case No. 97-1295
Opinion filed June 25, 1997
Petition for writ of certiorari to the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Leroy H. Moe, Judge; L.T. Case No. 95-7700 13.
Gary S. Ostrow of Law Office of Gary S. Ostrow, Fort Lauderdale, for petitioner.
Dennis C. Mcdevitt of Law Office of Dennis C. Mcdevitt, Boca Raton, for respondent.
We grant the petition for writ of certiorari and quash the discovery order of the trial court compelling petitioner, a non-party parent of the defendant below, to produce three years of tax returns. Respondent has failed to meet his burden to show any need for this discovery which would override the privacy rights of this non-party. Colonial Med. Specialties of S. Florida v. United Diagnostic Laboratories, Inc., 674 So.2d 923 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996).
We recognize that the trial court attempted to protect the non-party's privacy rights by ordering that counsel redact the irrelevant information. However, the description of the information to be disclosed, "information related to the business between the parties," is not sufficiently objective to avoid an improper disclosure. Before ordering the tax returns sought, the trial court must conduct an in camera review of the tax returns to ascertain whether they contain information relevant to the dispute between the parties.
GLICKSTEIN, STEVENSON and SHAHOOD, JJ., concur.