Civil Litigation

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FLORIDA FARM BUREAU GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY v. NICHOLAS FRANK COPERTINO

27 Fla. L. Weekly D652 (Fla. 4th DCA Mar. 20, 2002)

Florida Farm Bureau petitioned for certiorari seeking to quash a circuit court order requiring it to produce two memoranda prepared by its employees during litigation over insurance coverage for claims arising from an automobile accident. Florida Farm Bureau argued that the memos were protected work product. The trial court ordered their production based upon Allstate Indemnity Company v. Ruiz.

The appellate court concluded that the facts in the instant case differed from Ruiz in that the documents were prepared during litigation where the issue of bad faith was raised. This was not a case where bad faith litigation was simply foreseeable-it was actually being litigated at the time the memoranda were made. Thus, the court granted the petition.

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