Petition
for Writ of Certiorari to Review Quasi-Judicial Action: Agencies, Boards, and
Commissions of Local Government: CIVIL
PROCEDURE – Discovery – certiorari review is appropriate as there is no
adequate remedy once private and confidential documents are disclosed –
Administrative Law Judge departed from the essential requirements of law in
denying the request of the City and the Office of the Medical Director for a
protective order – Florida Statutes, section 401.425(5), states that
investigations of a committee providing quality assurance are not subject to
discovery – exception is the discovery of those matters within one’s personal
knowledge – subpoenas issued by Vaughn should have been limited to material
related to personal knowledge - Petition granted.
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
IN AND
APPELLATE DIVISION
PINELLAS
SERVICES, OFFICE OF THE MEDICAL DIRECTOR,
and
CITY OF
Petitioners,
vs. Appeal No.06-0080AP-88B
UCN522006AP000080XXXXCV
DWAYNE C. VAUGHN,
Respondent.
____________________________________/
THIS
CAUSE came before the Court on the Petition for Writ of Certiorari, filed
by the Petitioner, Pinellas County Emergency Medical Services, Officer of the
Medical Director (OMD), and joined by the City of
The
underlying case arises out of an incident occurring shortly before midnight, on
April 5, 2006, wherein the Respondent, Dwayne C. Vaughn (Vaughn), of the
Clearwater Fire and Rescue,[1]
responded to a 911 call for emergency medical assistance with a disruptive
thirty-five year old male at a
Vaughn notified his supervisors of the
equipment failure and was then interviewed by multiple City employees and
police detectives.[3] On April 5, 2006, Vaughn was notified by the OMD
that he was being investigated by the OMD’s Quality Assurance Review Committee
(QAR Committee), # 06-174. On April 17,
2006, Vaughn was suspended from clinical duties pending the outcome of the
investigation. On June 13, 2006, the
OMD’s Medical Director, Dr. Laurie Romig, notified Vaughn that his paramedic
and EMT certifications in Pinellas County were being permanently revoked for
“falsification or inappropriate alteration of EMS records” in violation of the Rules
and Regulations of the Pinellas County Emergency Medical Services System (Rules
and Regulations). Vaughn was then
terminated from his employment.
Vaughn appealed his termination to the State
of
The OMD then filed, on September 19, 2006, a
Brief in Support of the City’s Motion for Protective Order wherein the OMD
sought a broader protective order, to wit: “(1) an order protecting from
discovery all documents and information produced and/or obtained by the
Petitioner during its Quality Assurance Review (“QAR”); and (2) an order
excluding from evidence at the hearing, any testimony relating to matters
produced and/or presented during the QAR proceedings.” As did the City, the OMD cited to Florida
Statutes, section 401.425, in support of its request. Vaughn filed his Response, presenting several
rebuttal arguments: (1) the statutory
privilege in section 401.425 does not apply as the investigative committees
involved in Vaughn’s termination were not committees as defined by statute;
(2) the statute does not protect
external sources of information; or, (3) to the extent that the statutory
privilege did apply, it was waived by voluntary disclosure.
On October 2, 2006, the ALJ entered the Order
Denying Motion to Limit Subpoenas and for Protective Order (Order), denying the
City’s Motion for Protective Order. The
one-page Order does not set forth any findings, nor put any limitations of the
anticipated depositions of the City’s Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief. The OMD, later joined by the City, filed its
Petition for Writ of Certiorari before this Court seeking to quash the decision
of the ALJ.
The
issue raised before this Court is whether the ALJ
departed from the essential requirements of law in denying the request of the
City and OMD for a protective order.
Initially, the Court finds that certiorari review is appropriate in this
case as there is no adequate remedy once private and confidential documents are
disclosed. See Martin-Johnson,
Inc. v. Savage, 509 So.2d 1097, 1100 (
In reviewing the primary issue, Florida Statutes, section 401.425(5), states, in part:
The investigations, proceedings, and records of a committee providing quality assurance activities as described in subsections (1)-(4) shall not be subject to discovery or introduction into evidence in any civil action or disciplinary proceeding by the department or employing agency arising out of matters which are the subject of evaluation and review by the committee, and no person who was in attendance at a meeting of such committee shall be permitted or required to testify in any such civil action or disciplinary proceeding as to any evidence or other matters produced or presented during the proceedings of such committee or as to any findings, recommendations, evaluations, opinions, or other actions of such committee or any members thereof. However, information, documents, or records provided to the committee from sources external to the committee are not immune from discovery or use in any such civil action or disciplinary proceeding merely because they were presented during proceedings of such committee nor should any person who testifies before a committee or who is a member of such committee be prevented from testifying as to matters within the person’s knowledge, but, such witness shall not be asked about his or her testimony before a committee or information obtained from or opinions formed by him or her as a result of participating in activities conducted by a committee.
The OMD’s Rules and Regulations track the language of Section 401. Rule XII, Quality Assurance, establishes a Quality Assurance Committee pursuant to F.S. 401, in subsection A., and further states, in subsection D.6., that “[a]ll activities of the Quality Assurance Committee are under the auspices of QAR activities as described in F.S. 401 and are protected from discoverability.” Immediately preceding D.6., the Rules and Regulations address review of quality assurance activities and discipline. Rule XIII, Medical Review Hearings for Due Process, establishes the inquiry and investigation procedures to be used when the OMG determines that corrective action is necessary following a complaint.
The
Court finds that the ALJ departed from the essential requirements of law in
denying the request by the City and the OMD to limit the subpoenas of the
Clearwater Fire Chief, Jamie D. Geer, and the Assistant Fire Chief, Jean-Pierre
B. Medani. As a paramedic and EMT
employed by the OMD, the investigation leading up to Vaughn’s termination is a
disciplinary process that is subject to the confidentiality of the QAR
process. Without the need to resort to
statutory construction, the Court finds that the plain language of section
401.425 restricts discovery of testimony and evidence produced as a result of
such an investigation. See e.g.
Baker v. State, 636 So.2d 1342, 1343 (Fla. 1994)(stating
that “[i]t is well established that construction and interpretation of a
statute are unnecessary when it is unambiguous”); see also Gallagher
v.
However,
section 401.425(5), does provide that Vaughn can depose Mr. Geer and Mr. Medani
about their personal knowledge and that any documents or information that Mr.
Geer and Mr. Medani may have provided to the committee from external sources is
subject to discovery. The ALJ erred in
not clarifying that the subpoenas had to be limited to such material. While there is no case law on point
interpreting section 401.425, support for this conclusion can be found in case
law interpreting section 766.101(5), which contains similar language to section
401.425(5). As discussed in Bayfront
Medical Center, Inc. v. Agency for Healthcare Administration, 741 So.2d
1226, 1229 (
Therefore, it is,
ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the Petition for Writ of
Certiorari is granted and the Order Denying Motion to Limit Subpoenas and for
Protective Order is quashed.
DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers, at
________________________________
DAVID A. DEMERS
Circuit Judge, Appellate Division
______________________________ ______________________________
AMY M. WILLIAMS PETER RAMSBERGER
Circuit Judge, Appellate Division Circuit Judge,
Appellate Division
Copies furnished to:
Dawn Siler-Nixon, Esquire
Kelly Hagan Chanfrau
Leslie K. Dougall-Sides, Esquire
City of
Post Office Box 4748
Cynthia A. Mikos, Esquire
[1] Up until his termination, Vaughn had been employed full-time with the Clearwater Fire and Rescue, first as a fire fighter and, since 1986, as a paramedic.
[2] It was later determined that the batteries were dead because the cardiac monitor had been left on for approximately 3 hours following a previous 911 call on the same evening.
[3] As in this Petition, the City was permitted to intervene in the employment action below.