LAKELAND, Fla. (Legal Newsline) – Morgan & Morgan, the Florida-based law firm that recently took at least $12 million in taxpayer money, won’t be allowed to share what it learns in a lawsuit over vaping batteries with other personal injury lawyers.
Samsung scored a favorable ruling July 8 in the Florida Second District Court of Appeal, which overturned a sharing provision that was included in an order designed to keep Samsung’s business secrets from becoming part of the public record.
The trial court incorrectly told Samsung to prove why a sharing provision wasn’t needed, rather than have the plaintiffs show why one was, the court ruled.
“(W)hile it could be argued that the (plaintiffs) demonstrated relevancy by establishing that they wanted to share discovery with identifiable collateral litigants involved in pending litigation with the same company and product, that is not enough by itself to establish that a sharing provision is necessary,” Judge Robert Morris wrote.
The Hildreths, like many other plaintiffs, allege the Samsung battery in their vaping device caught fire and caused injuries.
Morgan & Morgan, in its representation of the Hildreths, wanted to disseminate information it will get from the company to lawyers with similar lawsuits.
A magistrate in the trial court granted Morgan & Morgan’s wishes, and the trial judge affirmed them.
“(T)he Hildreths proffered nothing to establish whether the protected materials in this case would be discoverable in the jurisdictions of the collateral litigants with whom they would share the protected materials,” Morris wrote.
“Nor did any of the collateral litigants’ lawyers intervene in this action to establish their need for the protected materials which necessarily includes consideration of whether the materials would be discoverable in the collateral litigants’ jurisdictions…”