procedural guides

Response to Requests for Production in Florida Circuit Court – At A Glance

Use this “At A Glance Guide” to learn the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure applicable to amended answer in Florida Circuit Courts. For more detailed information, please see the SmartRules Response to Request for Production guides for the court where your action is pending.

“For each item or category the response shall state that inspection and related activities will be permitted as requested unless the request is objected to, in which event the reasons for the objection is made to part of an item or category, the part shall be specified.” Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.350(b).
Compliance with Request

The producing party either must produce the documents or items specified as they are kept in the regular course of business, or must identify them to correspond to the categories in the request. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.350(b).

A party objecting to a request for production must provide the reasons for the objection. If an objection is made only to part of a demand, the objectionable section must be specified. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.350(b).

If a party withholds otherwise discoverable information on the basis of privilege, that party must make this claim expressly and must describe the nature of the withheld materials such that, without revealing the disputed information, other parties may assess the applicability of the privilege. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.280(b)(5).

The party serving the request for production may move for an order compelling production under Rule 1.380. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.350(b).

A party who has responded to a request for production with a response that was complete at the time it was provided is under no duty to supplement the response to include after-acquired documents. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.280(e).

If a party fails to respond to a request for production, the propounding party may move for an order compelling production under Rule 1.380. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.350(b). If the court issues an order compelling production and the responding party still fails to reply, that party may be held in contempt of court and may face sanctions up to and including the dismissal of pleadings. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.380(b)(2).

The authorities cited in this At A Glance Guide are current as of the publication date. For authorities updated in real time, please see the SmartRules Guide for the litigation document you are drafting.