By: Esther E. Galicia
The Fourth District in Hankerson v. Wiley, --- So. 3d ----, 2015 WL 71735, 40 Fla. Law Weekly D195 (Fla. 4th DCA Jan. 7, 2015), aligned itself with recent Third District decisions and quashed a trial court order which permitted the plaintiff to view a post-accident surveillance video before her deposition.
The Hankerson court agreed that “a trial court abuses its discretion where it permits a plaintiff to view a post-accident surveillance video before allowing a defendant to depose the plaintiff.” Id. at *1.
In other words, a defendant should be permitted to use surveillance materials to establish inconsistencies in a plaintiff’s claim by allowing the defendant to depose the video-taped plaintiff after the video has been taken but before its contents are presented to the plaintiff.