24 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 849a
Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2410FJOSInsurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Trade secret privilege — Contract between PIP insurer and billing review company is protected by trade secret privilege — However, where necessity of production of two sections of contract that clarify role of billing review company in processing medical bills and directives from insurer to company outweighs interest in confidentiality, court orders production of those sections subject to protections to prevent disclosure of privileged information
APPLE MEDICAL CENTER a/a/o Francelle Joseph, Plaintiff, vs. STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant. County Court, 11th Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County. Case No. 12-6959SP23(06). October 30, 2015. Spencer Multack, Judge. Counsel: Robert Goldman, for Plaintiff.
[Cert. Denied (PCA): State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co. v. Apple Medical Center (11th Jud. Circuit, Appellate, 11-30-2106, Case No. 15-419AP]
ORDER GRANTING IN PART PLAINTIFF’S REQUESTFOR PRODUCTION RE: MITCHELL INTERNATIONAL,INC. CONTRACT
In this matter, Plaintiff served a request to produce seeking production of a copy of the contract between the Defendant and the billing review company, if any, used by the Defendant to process bills submitted by the Plaintiff.” On September 25, 2015, this Court entered an Order compelling the Defendant to provide the Mitchell International, Inc. Contract (“Contract”) for an in camera inspection. The Court received the Contract on October 23rd, 2015 and conducted the inspection in the days that followed.
Florida Statute 812.081 defines “trade secret” as
. . . .the whole or any portion or phase of any formula, pattern, device, combination of devices, or compilation of information which is for use, or is used, in the operation of a business and which provides the business an advantage, or an opportunity to obtain an advantage, over those who do not know or use it.
Similarly, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act in Florida Statute 688.022 defines “trade secrets” as
information, the whole or any portion or phase of any formula, pattern, device, combination of devices, or compilation of information which is for use, or is used, in the operation of a business and which provides the business an advantage, or an opportunity to obtain an advantage, over those who do not know or use it.
Trade secrets are privileged under Section 90.506, Florida Statutes (2013). This privilege, however, is not absolute, and trade secrets can be obtained via discovery under certain circumstances. To determine if such circumstances exist, a trial court generally must (1) determine whether the requested production constitutes a trade secret, (2) if it is a trade secret, determine whether there is a reasonable necessity for production; and (3) if production is ordered, the trial court must set forth its findings. Sea Coast Fire, Inc. v. Triangle Fire, Inc., 170 So.3d 804 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014) [39 Fla. L. Weekly D2480a] (citing Gen. Caulking Coating Co., Inc. v. J.D. Waterproofing, Inc., 958 So. 2d 507 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007) [32 Fla. L. Weekly D1400b].
The Court finds that the contract between State Farm Insurance Company and Mitchel Medical International, Inc. (“Mitchell”) is protected by the trade secret privilege. To the extent that insurers and medical software providers in the marketplace are competitors or potential competitors, two companies cannot be forced to disclose their negotiated contracts with the rest of the industry.
However, based upon the arguments of the Plaintiff on September 25, 2015 in regards to the role Mitchell plays in the processing of PIP claims, the Court finds two sections of the Contract to be reasonably necessary for the Plaintiff’s discovery. Both sections deal with the bill re-pricing service provided by Mitchell. The Court finds that the two portions regarding bill re-pricing relevant, as the portions clarify the role Mitchell assumes in the processing of medical bills submitted by State Farm and what directives, if any, were submitted from State Farm to Mitchell. The Court finds the necessity of the production outweighs the interest in maintaining their confidentiality. See Sheridan Healthcorp, Inc. v. Total Health Choice Inc., 770 So.2d 221 (Fla. 3rd DCA 2001) [25 Fla. L. Weekly D2503b]. The Court will take protections to prevent the disclosure of this information as described below.
Furthermore, after having reviewed the contract in camera, the Court does not find any other contents to reasonably lead to discoverable information and, thus, are not relevant.
THEREFORE, the Plaintiff’s Request for Production is GRANTED in part. The Court shall stay the release of the confidential documentation until the appeal in case 15-372AP (2013-671SP23)1 is resolved in the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida.
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1The Defendant is seeking an appeal on the issue of the release of the same portions of the Mitchell Medical contract in Virtual Imaging a/a/o Eusebio Mourino v. State Farm, 2013-671SP23 as in the case sub judice.
