Punitive damages under the Florida Civil Rights Act.

Florida Statute 768.72 states, “[i]n any civil action, no claim for punitive damages shall be permitted unless there is a reasonable showing by evidence in the record or proffered by the claimant which would provide a reasonable basis for recovery of such damages.” However, the Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA) is an exception and allows plaintiffs to seek punitive damages without first providing a reasonable showing of evidence. See Florida Statutes, Ch. 760.11(5). Furthermore, there is a statutory limit of $100,000.00 for punitive damages under the FCRA. Nevertheless, some plaintiffs have interpreted this to mean that if they have claims under the FCRA, they are entitled to financial worth discovery before it is even determined that they are entitled to punitive damages. However, a recent case has clarified that this is an incorrect interpretation.

In Vital Pharms, the employer sought certiorari review of an order compelling it to produce financial worth discovery when it was sued for employment discrimination by a former employee under the FCRA. The employer objected to financial worth discovery on the basis that the FCRA caps punitive damages at $100,000.00 and there had been no determination that there was a reasonable evidentiary basis for the recovery of punitive damages. The trial court granted the employer’s motion to compel production of documents, and the employer appealed. The court specified that, “[t]he FCRA does not state that the ability to plead a claim automatically allows full financial worth discovery in every case.” (Emphasis added.). The court also noted that they “doubt(ed) that the legislature intended to allow broad and intrusive financial worth discovery in every case brought under the FCRA. In the absence of any statutory change, however, trial courts must exercise discretion and consider the circumstances of each case when determining the appropriate scope of discovery.” Ultimately, the petition was granted and the order was quashed.

Accordingly, it is imperative that employers recognize that if they are sued under the FCRA, they are not automatically entitled to turn over their financial documents. The Vital Pharms case is especially crucial for employers to rely upon when there is no punitive damages determination and producing such records to a plaintiff could be extremely prejudicial to them. This can happen in situations where the plaintiff currently works for a competitor of the employer.
 

^{Case Law Alerts, 4th Quarter, October 2021 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2021 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.}