Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...(2006) (providing a privilege for all mediation parties regarding mediation communication); § 90.5015, Fla. Stat. (2006) (providing for journalist's privilege); § 90.502, Fla. Stat. (2006) (providing for lawyer-client privilege); § 90.503, Fla. Stat. (2006) (providing for psychotherapist-patient privilege); § 90.5035, Fla....

...This is a petition for writ of certiorari from a trial court order granting a criminal defendant's motion to compel and requiring an in camera hearing directed at the testimony and file of victim services counselors. Because neither due process nor the Sixth Amendment require disclosure of communications protected by section 90.5035, Florida Statutes (1995), we grant the writ and quash the order under review....

...forth. And generally [be] there to listen to them. In response to questions concerning the victim's consultation with them or whether their office had a file on the victim, both counselors asserted the sexual assault counselor-victim privilege under section 90.5035, Florida Statutes (1995)....

...The court also required the two counselors to separately make themselves available to the court for an in camera hearing to respond to the court's "inquiries regarding statements made to them by [the victim]." The court's order noted that the purpose of the in camera proceeding was not to circumvent the section 90.5035 privilege, but to determine the existence of "exculpatory information as to the defendant herein which may outweigh any interest of Victim Services or [the victim] in preserving the secrecy of any such information." From this order, the state seeks certiorari review....

...ivilege, in the sense that nothing in the statute authorizes the use of a communication within the privilege for any purpose. See Warren, She's Gotta Have It Now: A Qualified Rape Crisis Counselor-Victim Privilege, 17 Cardozo L.Rev. 141, 146 (1995). Section 90.5035 contains no exceptions or limitations, no balancing test for its application....

...Comm. on Judiciary-Civil, SB 568 (1983) Staff Analysis 2 (rev. April 27, 1983)(available at Fla. Dep't of State, Div. of Archives, ser. 18, carton 1413, Tallahassee, Fla.). [6] Of the six relationship-based privileges contained in chapter 90, only section 90.5035 and the clergyman's privilege contain no exceptions to their application....

...Rather, the counseling process allows victims to talk in detail about what happened, to express their most personal thoughts and feelings, so that they come to resolve and understand their reactions to the event. See People v. Foggy, 118 Ill.Dec. at 23, 521 N.E.2d at 91. Section 90.5035 fosters the state's interest in the well being and recovery of the victims by protecting the relationship that is designed to help them. Disclosure of material protected by section 90.5035 undermines the reasons for the privilege....

...th information relevant to the offense charged, including the victim. [7] A defendant has access to unprivileged statements made by the victim to the police, her family or other witnesses. Unlike the privilege for juvenile criminal records in Davis, section 90.5035 will not typically shield a significant and irreplaceable means of impeaching the chief prosecution witness. The social importance of the confidential relationship and the availability of broad discovery rights weigh heavily against disclosure of section 90.5035 matters....

...Holding that there was no Sixth Amendment violation, the court observed that the defendant was able to significantly impeach the accomplice by other means. Even though it was decided prior to Ritchie, Mills employs the same type of balancing approach required by a due process analysis. The legislature has accorded the section 90.5035 privilege a broad and deep significance similar to the attorney-client privilege; a defendant has other pretrial tools to examine a victim's statements....

...In light of the policy values behind the privilege, the dangers of lenient disclosure and the availability of broad pretrial discovery, a defendant must satisfy a stringent test to justify in camera disclosure of privileged matters. To obtain in camera review of confidential communications or records under section 90.5035, a defendant must first establish a reasonable probability that the privileged matters contain material information necessary to his defense....

...ey-client privilege."). Pinder does not seek to compel disclosure of testimony that falls outside the privilege. The trial court's order requires the counselors to produce their file and recount the victim's statements, all of which are protected by section 90.5035....

...est my decision on Ritchie as to the single question that needs to be decided. NOTES [1] By use of the term "victim" in this opinion, we are not expressing any view as to the guilt of the defendant in the case below. We use the term as it is used in section 90.5035(1)(c), Florida Statutes (1995), to include a person who consults a counselor concerning an "alleged sexual assault." [2] The transcript of the victim's January 11, 1996 deposition is 122 pages long. [3] 90.5035 Sexual assault counselor-victim privilege....

her discussions with Rimondi, relying on Fla.Stat. 90.-5035, which grants a sexual assault victim and

...The Fourth District Court of Appeal has held that under the due process clause, a defendant in a criminal case may obtain access to the victim's privileged communications with a sexual assault counselor. State v. Pinder, 678 So.2d 410 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996). Those records would otherwise be immune from disclosure under section 90.5035, Florida Statutes (2001), which creates the sexual assault counselor-victim privilege. Under Pinder: To obtain in camera review of confidential communications or records under section 90.5035, a defendant must first establish a reasonable probability that the privileged matters contain material information necessary to his defense....

...ngers of lenient disclosure and the availability of broad pretrial discovery, a defendant must satisfy a stringent test to justify in camera disclosure of privileged matters. To obtain in camera review of confidential communications or records under section 90.5035 [codifying the sexual assault counselor-victim privilege], a defendant must first establish a reasonable probability that the privileged matters contain material information necessary to his defense....

...ot address what questioning on mental health matters may be permitted at trial. We leave that for another day. [2] In Pinder the Fourth District held that records or communications between a sexual assault counselor and a victim made confidential by section 90.5035, Florida Statutes, are subject to an in camera review, and are ultimately subject to discovery if the defendant establishes a reasonable probability that the privileged matters contain material information necessary to the defense....

...ances. In State v. Pinder, 678 So.2d 410 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996), the trial court had granted a defendant's motion for an in-camera hearing involving the testimony of the victim's sexual assault counselor. That information is absolutely privileged under section 90.5035, Florida Statutes (1995), because the statute contains no exceptions....

...The state argues that the order is a departure from the essential requirements of law. We agree. In State v. Pinder, 678 So.2d 410 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996), the Fourth District Court of Appeal addressed the issue of disclosure of communications protected by section 90.5035, Florida Statutes (1995), the sexual assault counselor-victim privilege. The court said: Disclosure of material protected by section 90.5035 undermines the reasons for the privilege....

...ngers of lenient disclosure and the availability of broad pretrial discovery, a defendant must satisfy a stringent test to justify in camera disclosure of privileged matters. To obtain in camera review of confidential communications or records under section 90.5035, a defendant must first establish a reasonable probability that the privileged matters contain material information necessary to his defense....

...There is no suggestion, however, that she is incompetent to testify or that her mental faculties are in question. [2] Williams v. State, 110 So.2d 654 (Fla.1959). [3] In Katlein, the Fourth District, discussing its previous decision in Pinder, explained that section 90.5035 provides an absolute privilege "because the statute contains no exceptions." Katlein, 731 So.2d at 89....

...Similar language regarding the confidentiality of communications made in the presence of certain third parties can be found in many of the Florida privileges, i.e., lawyer-client privilege (§ 90.502(1)(c)1., 2.), sexual assault counselor-victim (§ 90.5035(1)(e)1., 2., 3.), domestic violence advocate-victim (§ 90.5036(1)(d)1., 2.), clergy (§ 90.505(1)(b)), and accountant-client (§ 90.5055(1)(c)1., 2.)....

assault counselor-victim privilege created by section 90.5035, Florida Statutes. That section provides, in

Laws of Florida, the Legislature amended section 90.5035, Florida Statutes, to expand the sexual assault