Title: Elkins v. Syken

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

672 So. 2d 517 (1996)
Max ELKINS, et al., Petitioners,
v.
Elisa SYKEN, et al., Respondents.
No. 84649.

Supreme Court of Florida.
April 11, 1996.
*518 Robert A. Robbins of Robbins & Reynolds, P.A., Miami, Joel S. Perwin of Podhurst, Orseck, Josefsberg, Eaton, Meadow, Olin & Perwin, P.A., Miami, Barbara Green, Miami, and Richard A. Friend and Richard A. Warren, South Miami, for Petitioners.
James T. Sparkman of Clark, Sparkman, Robb, Nelson & Mason, Fort Lauderdale, and Raoul G. Cantero, III and Jared Gelles of Adorno & Zeder, P.A., Miami, for Respondents.
Roy D. Wasson, Miami, for The Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, Amicus Curiae.
Paul R. Regensdorf of Fleming, O'Bryan & Fleming, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for The Florida Defense Lawyers Association, Amicus Curiae.
OVERTON, Justice.
This is a petition to review the Third District Court of Appeal's en banc decision in Syken v. Elkins, 644 So. 2d 539 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994), which concerns the appropriate scope of discovery necessary to impeach the testimony of an opponent's expert medical witness. In Syken, two unrelated personal injury actions were consolidated by the district court for review.[1] In both actions, the trial judges issued orders directing defendants' expert witnesses, who were physicians, to produce tax records, income tax returns, and information regarding patients who were examined for purposes of litigation in unrelated actions. In a unanimous en banc decision, the district court reversed these orders, finding that the requested information was overly burdensome and provided little useful information. The district court then set forth specific criteria to assist trial judges in addressing this expanding problem. By separate order, the district court of appeal certified that its decision conflicted with the district court decisions in Abdel-Fattah v. Taub, 617 So. 2d 429 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) (non-party expert required to compile information regarding defense-required examinations for past year), Bissell Bros., Inc. v. Fares, 611 So. 2d 620 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993) (IRS Form 1099's subject to discovery), and Young v. Santos, 611 So. 2d 586 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) (tax returns and independent medical examinations (IMEs) discoverable).[2] For the reasons expressed, we approve the well-reasoned decision of the district court, and we adopt in full the district court's criteria governing the discovery of financial information from expert witnesses. We also direct that the criteria be made part of the *519 commentary to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280.
At the outset, it is important to recognize that the issues in this case affect plaintiffs and defendants equally. For instance, in the two instant cases, it was plaintiff's counsel who sought substantial personal financial information from the medical expert witnesses for the defense. On the other hand, in Wood v. Tallahassee Memorial Regional Medical Center, Inc., 593 So. 2d 1140 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992), review denied, 599 So. 2d 1281 (Fla. 1992), it was defense counsel who sought similar financial information from the plaintiff's expert medical witness. Thus, our decision today will provide protection to experts for both plaintiffs and defendants by preventing the unnecessary and overly burdensome disclosure of personal financial information and by possibly forestalling any chilling effect on the availability of expert witnesses. With this purpose in mind, we turn to the facts of the instant consolidated cases.
The facts of these cases were set forth by the district court as follows:
Syken v. Elkins, 644 So. 2d 539, 541-43 (footnote omitted).
On appeal, the district court quashed the trial court orders, concluding that they were too burdensome. The district court determined that, to demonstrate the probability of bias, it is sufficient for a doctor to be asked to give an approximate estimate for IMEs and total patients seen in a year; that the figures need not be exact (an honest estimate is sufficient); that the doctor should not be required to disclose the amount of money earned from expert witness work or to disclose his or her total income; and that income tax returns and form 1099s need not be produced given their limited probative value. The district court then set forth the *521 following eight criteria to be followed in seeking financial information from opposing medical experts:
Id. at 546 (footnotes omitted). In explaining the need for these criteria, the district court stated:
Id. at 546-47.
The petitioners argue that the criteria set forth by the district court constrict a litigant's ability to probe the biases of the other side's expert because, without additional discovery, no way exists to disprove the accuracy of the expert's statements. Further, the petitioners assert that because many "professional witnesses" derive most of their income from testifying as expert witnesses, the discovery of income tax returns and other related documents is necessary to attack the credibility of these witnesses. In support of their argument, petitioners cite to several cases in which other district courts have allowed for the discovery of such financial information. See, e.g., Bissell Bros., Inc. (1099 forms subject to discovery to disclose bias); Wood (records of this type are relevant to credibility as an expert); McAdoo v. Ogden, 573 So. 2d 1084 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991) (bills for services rendered as defense expert discoverable to show potential bias). Notably, the district court in this case specifically rejected this argument, finding that
Syken, 644 So. 2d  at 545 (footnote omitted). We find that the district court's opinion strikes a reasonable balance between a party's need for information concerning an expert witness's potential bias and the witness's right to be free from burdensome and intrusive production requests.
In addressing this issue, it is essential that we keep in mind the purpose of discovery. Pretrial discovery was implemented to simplify the issues in a case, to eliminate the element of surprise, to encourage the settlement of cases, to avoid costly litigation, and to achieve a balanced search for the truth to ensure a fair trial. Dodson v. Persell, 390 So. 2d 704 (Fla.1980); Surf Drugs, Inc. v. Vermette, 236 So. 2d 108 (Fla. 1970). Discovery was never intended to be used as a tactical tool to harass an adversary in a manner that actually chills the availability of information by non-party witnesses; nor was it intended to make the discovery process so expensive that it could effectively deny access to information and witnesses or force parties to resolve their disputes unjustly. To allow discovery that is overly burdensome and that harasses, embarrasses, and annoys one's adversary would lead to a lack of public confidence in the credibility of the civil court process. The right to a jury trial in the constitution means nothing if the public has no faith in the process and if the cost and expense are so great that access is basically denied to all but the few who can afford it. In essence, an overly burdensome, expensive discovery process will cause many qualified experts, including those who testify only on an occasional basis, to refrain from participating in the process, particularly if they have the perception that the process could invade their personal privacy. To adopt petitioners' arguments could have a chilling effect on the ability to obtain doctors willing to testify and could cause future trials to consist of many days of questioning on the collateral issue of expert bias rather than on the true issues of liability and damages.
The district court engaged in an extensive and well-reasoned analysis of the problem, and we find that the criteria set forth in its opinion are proper. We believe that the district court's criteria focus on the use of the discovery process in a proper manner, eliminating much of the potential for harassing or causing unnecessary time and expense to a party or witness, and providing parties and trial courts with the guidance necessary to focus on the original purpose and intent of discovery. Additionally, as we stated previously, this issue affects both plaintiffs and defendants alikewhile the two cases before us involve pretrial discovery of defense medical experts, other cases involve plaintiff medical experts. See, e.g., Wood. Our decision today is in no way intended to favor either plaintiffs or defendants; it is intended to reach a proper balance to protect the rights of both.
Accordingly, we approve the opinion of the district court of appeal in its entirety. We also conclude that the district court's criteria should be included as commentary to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280. We disapprove the opinions in Abdel-Fattah, Bissell Bros., Inc., Young, Crandall v. Michaud, 603 So. 2d 637 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992) (1099s relevant to issue of bias), Wood, and McAdoo to the extent they are inconsistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
GRIMES, C.J., and SHAW, KOGAN, HARDING and WELLS, JJ., concur.
ANSTEAD, J., concurs specially with an opinion, in which KOGAN, J., concurs.
ANSTEAD, Justice, specially concurring.
I concur in the majority opinion, especially its endorsement of Judge Nesbitt's thorough *523 and comprehensive opinion for the district court.
We have been fortunate in Florida to enjoy the free flow of information in both our civil and criminal justice systems. That free flow has served as the bedrock of our system and is, perhaps, the single greatest factor in the system's ability to produce a just result in disputes brought to it for resolution. However, we must be very careful not to allow abuses of the system to endanger the life of the open system itself. It is for the protection of the continued health of our overall open system of justice that we act today to curb some of the perceived abuses of our liberal system of discovery. It is also important to recognize that we are dealing with discovery as to a collateral issue.
Finally, we should recognize that our ruling today, while essentially constrictive, still places great authority and discretion in the hands of the trial judges of this state. As noted by Judge Nesbitt:
Syken v. Elkins, 644 So. 2d 539, 547 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994).
KOGAN, J., concurs.
[1]  Syken v. Elkins and Plaza of the Americas v. Roth.
[2]  We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const.