Court Opinion

ID: 9576455
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:24:34.347492+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:08:28.671111
License: Public Domain

Judge Greene
dissenting.
I agree that the order appealed by defendant is interlocutory. I do not agree, however, that the order fails to affect a substantial right that will be irreparably harmed if the interlocutory appeal is denied.
“[Discovery matters are interlocutory and ordinarily are not appealable.” Gibbons v. CIT Group/Sales Financing, 101 N.C. App. 502, 505, 400 S.E.2d 104, 106, disc. review denied, 329 N.C. 496, 407 S.E.2d 856 (1991) (emphasis added). I believe this case presents an exception to the general rule that discovery matters are not immediately appealable. In this case, the trial court ordered the disclosure of insurance policyholder information, including the identities of the insured. This information is recognized as confidential, N.C.G.S. ch. 58, art. 39 (1994 & Supp. 1998), and it follows that plaintiff has a substantial right to protect the disclosure of the information. Admittedly, the same statute providing that the policyholder information is confidential also provides that it is subject to disclosure by an appropriate court order. N.C.G.S. § 58-39-75(8) (Supp. 1998). It is the appropriateness of this order that the insurance company is entitled to have *689immediately reviewed. If it is not immediately reviewed, the confidential material will be disclosed and the appellate court, after entry of a final judgment, will be helpless to correct any error it may find in the disclosure order. Once the information is disclosed, its confidentiality can never be restored. In other words, if the issue of the legality of the disclosure is not addressed in this interlocutory appeal, it can never be addressed effectively.
I, therefore, would allow this appeal.