CopyCited 16 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 1997 WL 585831
...orily protected. Under the chapter governing financial institutions, all books and records pertaining to investors' accounts must be kept confidential by the investment company unless the investors expressly authorize the release of the information. § 655.059(2)(b), Fla....
...(1995)(defining "financial institutions" as investment companies). Here, the Eisens, having already been furnished the names of the nonparty clients involved in the contested block trades, seek production of the addresses to match to the nonparty clients' names. Because section 655.059(2)(b) requires an investment company to first secure its clients' permission before releasing any information about them or their accounts, only the nonparty clients may waive their confidentiality protections. § 655.059(2)(b). In this case, the nonparty clients, the holders of the confidentiality privilege under section 655.059(2)(b), did not and have not given their express authorization to Berkeley, and neither have they waived their statutory privilege by their conduct....
...§
90.507, Fla. Stat. (1995)(stating that the holder of privileged information waives confidentiality protections by voluntarily disclosing it). Moreover, while the mere release of names and addresses without authorization might not always run afoul of section
655.059(2)(b), it does in this case because the names and addresses sought are already linked to specific account information, i.e., the contested block trade....
...Further, by now releasing the nonparty clients' addresses to match to their names, Berkeley would again be disclosing confidential investment account information without express authorization and as a result, would be violating the confidentiality protections of section 655.059(2)(b). The majority opinion notes that neither party has raised the issue of the nonparty clients' confidentiality privilege under section 655.059(2)(b)....
...holder of the statutory privilege. Because neither party has any motivation to call this Court's attention to a statutory provision that provides the nonparty clients with confidentiality protections, I believe it is proper for this Court to address section 655.059(2)(b) despite both parties' failure to raise this issue....
...1250,
111 S.Ct. 2888,
115 L.Ed.2d 1054 (1991). In my view, the nonparty clients in this case have a reasonable expectation of privacy regarding their names, addresses, and involvement in a specific investment. Obviously, the Legislature agrees because it passed section
655.059(2)(b), protecting privacy regarding information held by a financial institution....
...4th DCA 1993) (holding that consumers who affirmatively contacted manufacturer to complain about product acted inconsistently with any reasonable expectation of privacy). The Eisens have already received some of the information they seekdespite the protections of section 655.059(2)(b) and the reasonable expectation of privacyand they admit that all of the additional information requested could be otherwise obtained through search services and private investigators....
...s. Colonial Med. Specialties v. United Diagnostic Labs., Inc.,
674 So.2d 923 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996); Haywood v. Samai,
624 So.2d 1154 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993). In sum, I conclude that the nonparty clients' names and addresses are protected from discovery by section
655.059(2)(b) and furthermore, they have a reasonable expectation of privacy concerning this information. In my opinion, both of these reasons justify granting the petition for writ of certiorari and quashing the order compelling the production of the addresses of the nonparty clients. NOTES [1] Subsection
655.059(2)(b), Florida Statutes (1995), provides that financial institutions shall keep all books and records pertaining to "the deposit accounts and loans of depositors, borrowers, members, and stockholders" confidential unless the account holder expressly authorizes the release of the information....
CopyCited 2 times | Published | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal | 2008 WL 5070285
...en. Request number six asks for the following: 6. All account statements for the account(s) from which the shares at issue were transferred. Banc of America objected to number six on grounds that the documents requested were confidential pursuant to section 655.059(2)(b), Florida Statutes (2007)....
...Banc of America sought authorization to release the information requested from its depositor, Mr. Day, a non-party whose account was affected by the transfer. When Mr. Day denied authorization, Banc of America objected, once again, to the production of the account statements on grounds of privilege pursuant to section 655.059(2)(b)....
...Doe,
964 So.2d 713 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007), cert. denied,
980 So.2d 488 (Fla. 2008). The court below departed from the essential requirements of law when it ordered production of documents concerning transactions in Mr. Day's account that are privileged pursuant to section
655.059(2)(b), resulting in a harmful invasion of privacy rights which cannot be remedied on appeal. See Winfield v. Div. of Pari-Mutuel Wagering,
477 So.2d 544, 548 (Fla.1985) (recognizing "an individual's legitimate right of privacy in financial institution records" pursuant to the Florida Constitution). Section
655.059(2)(b) deems confidential books and records of deposit accounts at any financial institution and further states that such documents "shall not be released except upon express authorization of the account holder." Moreover, production o...
...d in the lawsuit before us and is not reasonably calculated to lead *1158 to the discovery of admissible evidence. For the above reasons, we grant the petition for writ of certiorari. Petition for writ of certiorari granted, order quashed. NOTES [1] 655.059 Access to books and records; confidentiality; penalty for disclosure. ....
