Court Opinion

ID: 9946751
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-01 14:03:15.958318+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:23:35.243131
License: Public Domain

FIFTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
                STATE OF FLORIDA
                  _____________________________

                        Case No. 5D23-933
                  LT Case No. 2021-CA-000021-A
                  _____________________________

ST. PAUL’S POLISH NATIONAL
CATHOLIC CHURCH,

    Petitioner,

    v.

ERIC A. HILT, as agent for SUSAN
HILT, and MARK J. NIZNIK,

    Respondents.
               _____________________________

Petition for Certiorari Review of Order from
the Circuit Court for Marion County.
Steven G. Rogers, Judge.

Kimberly Kanoff Berman, of Marshall Dennehey Warner
Coleman & Goggin, Fort Lauderdale, and Chanel A. Mosley, of
Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, Orlando, for
Petitioner.

Patrick G. Gilligan, and Sydney M. Simmons, of Gilligan,
Anderson, Phelan & Williams, P.A., Ocala, for Eric A. Hilt, as
agent for Susan Hilt.

No Appearance for Remaining Respondents.

                         March 1, 2024
HARRIS, J.

      Petitioner, St. Paul’s Polish National Catholic Church (“St.
Paul’s”), has petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari seeking
to quash the trial court’s amended discovery order which compels
it to identify church members and produce records of membership
lists. We agree with St. Paul’s that the trial court’s amended order
is deficient because the court failed to make a judicial
determination concerning St. Paul’s incorporation status, which
was a disputed issue below that goes directly to the heart of one of
the stated bases for compelling disclosure. In addition, we further
find that the amended order is inadequate because the trial court
failed to address and make specific findings concerning St. Paul’s
asserted claim of associational privilege provided by the First
Amendment. Resolution of these issues by the trial court is
essential for meaningful appellate review. See Nemours Found. v.
Arroyo, 262 So. 3d 208, 211 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018); State Farm Mut.
Auto. Ins. Co. v. Knapp, 234 So. 3d 843, 848 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018);
Dismas Charities, Inc. v. Dabbs, 795 So. 2d 1038 (Fla. 4th DCA
2001).

     Accordingly, we grant St. Paul’s amended petition for
certiorari, quash the trial court’s amended discovery order without
prejudice, and remand the matter to the trial court for further
consideration.

    PETITION GRANTED; ORDER QUASHED; REMANDED for further
proceedings.

WALLIS and SOUD, JJ., concur.

                 _____________________________

    Not final until disposition of any timely and
    authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
    9.331.
               _____________________________

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