Ross v. Ross, 4D11-107

The Fourth District recently wrote to address an appeal from an order that forced the sale of the Former Husband’s residence to satisfy his alimony arrearages. The Former Wife had drafted the ten-page order that the Court characterized as “very unfavorable” to the Former Husband, as it included findings that he acted in bad faith and committed fraud upon the court. The Fourth DCA found in favor of the Former Wife on four of the Former Husband’s five issues on appeal. However, the Fourth DCA agreed with the Husband’s argument that, under Perlow v. Berg-Perlow, 875 So. 2d 383 (Fla. 2004) the trial court erred by entering the order submitted by the Former Wife verbatim without Former Husband having the opportunity to review it first. The Former Wife’s overreaching resulted in the case being reversed and remanded for the entry of a new order after Former Husband had an opportunity to submit his own proposed order or to object to that submitted by the Former Wife.

Need help with an appeal? Contact The Law Offices of Robin Bresky at 561-994-6272,  info@breskyappellate.com or http://www.breskyappellate.com. The Law Offices of Robin Bresky is a dedicated appellate law firm handling civil court appeals and providing effective trial and litigation support. The firm serves Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, Coral Springs, Parkland, Margate, Lauderhill, Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Broward County, Palm Beach County, and the trial courts and lower tribunals within the jurisdiction of the 4th District Court of Appeals.

Attorney-client privilege is the right of clients to refuse to disclose confidential communications with their lawyers to third parties. This privilege is fundamental to preserve the right to effective legal counsel. Lawyers cannot function effectively on behalf of their clients without the ability to communicate with them in confidence.

With that said, as an appellate attorney, I was successful in overturning a trial court’s decision denying a protective order—preventing the disclosure of attorney client communication.[1] In a case, where a son was suing his mother, we filed a Writ of Certiorari on a discovery issue—a litigation process during which each party requests relevant information and documents from the other side in an attempt to “discover” pertinent facts. The information the son was seeking from the mother, I believed to be attorney-client privilege.

By filing for a Writ of Certiorari, often referred to as a Writ of Cert, I swiftly completed a petition explaining to the appellate court the reasoning that the trial court’s interlocutory order needed to be reversed. After evaluating the petition the appellate court decides whether or not to grant a show cause order to the opposing party. If the court issues a show cause order the opposing party answers the petition. In this particular case the court issued a show cause order and the reply was submitted by the opposing parties’ council.

In less than two months the appellate agreed with our position and the Writ of Cert I filed was granted; and the trial courts decision denying the protective order was overturned. Had we not petitioned the appellate court with the Writ of Cert, the opposing party would have access to privileged information. Thus, I was able to prevent letting the proverbial cat out of the bag.

Robin Bresky, Law Offices of Robin Bresky

[1] A large part of my practice is drafting pre-trial litigation as well as appellate briefs. Please note, in the case stated above, I was hired as a ghostwriter for another attorney who sought my services, because of my extensive knowledge on appellate law. In addition to my own clients, I offer litigation support to other attorneys that seek my expertise.