Kansas Gooden Featured in Law360 Article; Argues Two Cases in Florida Supreme Court On Same Day

September 11, 2020 by on News

Shareholder Kansas R. Gooden is featured in a September 10 article in Law360 titled, “Fla. High Court Asked to Rethink 'Upended' Discovery Rules.”

The article focuses on two oral arguments, which Kansas handled on the same day, seeking to overturn a 2017 ruling from the Florida Supreme Court on financial bias impeachment discovery. The prior ruling exempted from discovery a Plaintiff’s law firm’s referral relationship with a treating physician. Her cases concerns the prior ruling’s effect on discovery directed to a defense law firm or insurance company and their relationship to a compulsory medical examiner.

Excerpts of the article appear below.

“Kansas R. Gooden of Boyd & Jenerette PA … told the court that its decision in Worley v. Central Florida Young Men's Christian Association, which shielded details of the financial relationship between a plaintiff's law firm and treating physicians, has "upended" the law in personal injury litigation.”

“The decision has not been applied evenhandedly on both sides, she said, resulting in plaintiffs essentially using it "as a sword and a shield," refusing to respond to discovery requests about their expert witnesses while seeking "a ton" of information on the financial relationships between defendants' counsel or insurer and their expert witnesses, as well as their retention of those witnesses in other cases.”

The Florida Supreme Court’s decisions in Kansas’ cases are expected in about six months.

Kansas is one of the few attorneys in the state who has ever argued back to back cases in the Florida Supreme Court. It is extremely rare for an appellate attorney to have two arguments argued on the same day, one right before the other.

Click on the link to read the full Law360 article (subscription required).

Kansas R. Gooden
Shareholder / Practice Group Leader
Direct: 305.537.1238
Email: kgooden@boydjen.com

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