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Cruise ship discovery order comes out in Southern District 1/25/11

SCHULTE v. NCL (Bahamas) Ltd., 22 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. D574a (S.D. Fla. Jan. 25, 2011) (M.J. Simonton).

Torts -- Negligence -- Cruise ship -- Slip and fall -- Discovery -- Video taken aboard cruise ship at time of plaintiff's slip and fall accident and prior to anticipation of litigation does not constitute work product, and must be produced to plaintiff prior to plaintiff's deposition -- Video is not work product because it was made as part of normal course of surveillance videos made by defendant and was not prepared in anticipation of litigation -- Act of preserving video, in anticipation of litigation and at the behest of counsel, does not convert tape into work product protected from disclosure -- It is appropriate to require production of video prior to plaintiff's deposition to refresh her recollection where defendant failed point to any aspect of video, and/or any action by plaintiff, that would cause court to find that disclosure of video would lead plaintiff to improperly tailor her testimony, or would result in any prejudice to defendant -- It is appropriate to permit plaintiff to have second shipboard inspection of accident area where plaintiff misidentified location of incident by approximately twelve feet -- Second inspection would permit plaintiff's expert to examine and test relevant area where plaintiff actually fell, rather have expert render an opinion on area that may not be relevant to just resolution of matter -- Any additional costs associated with second inspection should be borne by plaintiff, given that she has already had one opportunity for inspection, and it was her obligation to ensure that she had all information necessary to ensure appropriate inspection

If you'd like to receive a full copy of this decision, please email me at miamipandi@comcast.net or via my LinkedIn profile at
http://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleoterovaldes.
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