In Garvin v. Tidwell, decided in October, 2012, Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeals had the opportunity to review a settlement agreement successfully negotiated by the parties during a mediation that took place during trial. This case was about a horse who allegedly bucked and caused injuries to its fallen rider. But, it’s not the facts of the underlying action that are of interest. Rather, this case explains what can happen after a settlement is reached, when it is learned by one of the parties that the other party failed to disclose relevant information during the “discovery” stage of the trial court proceedings.
After reaching the settlement, Garvin argued that Tidwell failed to provide full disclosure during the lower court’s discovery stages. But, for that failure to disclose key facts, a settlement may not have been reached at all, and minimally can cause the other party to undervalue the worthiness of their own claim. In Garvin v. Tidwell, during “discovery”, an “interrogatory” (a fancy legal term that, in simple terms, means a written question asked by one party to be answered in writing by the other party) asked for the names of persons and any documents concerning the care, maintenance, and training of the horse including medical issues. Tidwell had described the horse as a “gentleman” and “lazy”. After settlement, Garvin learned of an advertisement that, as it would turn out, was a “smoking gun” type of document.
The advertisement quoted Tidwell as saying that she decided to give the medication “Ex Stress” to her horse, Buster, because he “can be a little difficult at times”, she said. During depositions Tidwell failed to mention that she gave Buster the calming supplements and failed to mention Buster’s “difficult” behavior. After learning of this new information, Garvin sought to have the settlement agreement voided. The trial court initially sided with the horse’s owner, but the 4th District Court of Appeal reversed in favor of Garvin, the deceived party.
In Garvin, the 4th DCA explained, “Florida courts have long recognized that one of the primary functions of ‘discovery’ is to enable parties to enter settlement negotiations with an understanding of their chances of success at trial. A primary purpose in the adoption of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure is to prevent the use of surprise, trickery, bluff and legal gymnastics. Revelation through discovery procedures of the strength and weaknesses of each side before trial encourages settlement of cases and avoids costly litigation. Each side can make an intelligent evaluation of the entire case and may better anticipate the ultimate results… ‘Evasive or incomplete’ answers can amount to a failure to answer and may also warrant the imposition of sanctions.”
In making its point, the 4th DCA looked to a 2001, Third District Court of Appeal case, Leo’s Gulf Liquors v. Lakhani. In that case, the 3d DCA discussed the importance of “honesty” in discovery. The court explained that, “[w]itnesses who give sworn testimony by way of interrogatories, at depositions, pretrial hearings and trial, swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We expect and will settle for nothing less. Lawyers who advise their clients and/or witnesses to mince words, hold back on necessary clarifications, or otherwise obstruct the truth-finding process, do so at their own, and the clients’ peril.” The Third District also made clear that a witness’ oath to tell the truth is equally demanding at depositions. In the end, the 4th DCA found that Tidwell violated her discovery obligations by failing to disclose the Ex Stress advertisement and information known to her about her horse, Buster’s, behavior which prompted the use of Ex Stress.
The lesson to be learned today is one we all learned in kindergarten so long ago, “liars never prosper”.