Employee Seeks Supreme Court Review in Spoliation Case
The plaintiff in Perez v. La Dove, Inc., a decision from the Third DCA which I wrote about here, has filed a notice to invoke the discretionary jurisdiction of the Florida Supreme Court. The basis alleged for Supreme Court jurisdiction is that the Third DCA's decision "expressly and directly" conflicts with the Fourth DCA's decision in Builder's Square v. Shaw, 755 So.2d 721 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999).
The issue is whether an employee has a viable claim for "spoliation of evidence" against his employer for failure to preserve evidence relevant to his third-party liability claim if he never actually requested the employer to preserve such evidence. In Shaw, the Fourth DCA held that the employer's duty to preserve relevant evidence arises even in the absence of an express request by the employee to do so under circumstances where the employer reasonably should know that such litigation is likely to occur. You can read Perez's brief on jurisdiction here.
La Dove, Inc., has filed a brief disputing that the Supreme Court has jurisdiction. According to their jurisdictional brief, the Fourth DCA has actually receded from its Shaw decision in Royal & Sunalliance v. Lauderdale Marine Center, 877 So.2d 843 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004). Therefore, says the employer, there is no inter-district conflict. You can read their brief here.
