Florida Supreme Court Codifies Apex Doctrine To Protect Corporate Executives From Abusive Discovery Tactics

• Published date: 10 September 2021
• Law Firm: Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC
• Author: Ms A. Sheila Oretsky, Ashley Bruce Trehan and David M. Walsh

On August 26, 2021, the Florida Supreme Court issued an opinion codifying the common-law "Apex Doctrine," adding a new subsection (h) to Rule 1.280, Florida Rules of Civil Procedure. The Apex Doctrine shields high-level government and corporate officers from being deposed when they do not have unique personal knowledge of deposition topics, thereby preventing abusive, harassing discovery tactics. Previously, Florida state courts had not applied this common law doctrine to corporate executives.

Prior Application of the Apex Doctrine

When a large corporation is named as a defendant to a personal injury, medical malpractice or product liability case, for example, the executives in the C-suite likely do not have personal knowledge of the underlying facts and, thus, may not expect to be deposed. Under the common law, the Apex Doctrine could shield those officers from having to sit for a deposition. Indeed, federal courts in Florida already had applied the Apex Doctrine to shield corporate officers from deposition. Office Depot, Inc. v. Elementum Ltd., No. 9:19-cv-81305, 2020 WL 5506445, at *3 (S.D. Fla. Sept. 14, 2020) (denying motion to compel depositions of seven current and former directors).

However...