Gettysburg 2022 (Matt McClain / Washington Post)
In Wiseman v. Progressive Paloverde Ins. Co., No. 8:21-cv-02743-TPB-AAS, 2023 WL 2162374, at *1 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 22, 2023) (Sansone, USMJ), non-party witnesses contested subpoenas served upon them in a bad faith case by the plaintiff who sued their client in the underlying case.
The subpoenaed nonparties were defense attorneys in the underlying liability case. They filed motions to quash or modify subpoenas for their depositions and for certain documents including text messages exchanged with the insured they were previously defending. A U.S. Magistrate Judge held that attorney-client privilege did not apply under Florida law in this instance:
Florida courts have consistently held that the plaintiff in a third-party bad-faith action against an insurance company for failure to settle for policy limits is entitled to the entire litigation file of the insured's counsel from the inception of the lawsuit until the date the judgment was entered in the underlying action. [Citations omitted.] The courts reasoned that the plaintiff stands in the same posture as the insured and is, therefore, entitled to full discovery. [Citation omitted.] Therefore, attorney-client privilege does not preclude the requested communications.
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