Understanding Florida’s Public Hazard Definition under the Sunshine Litigation Act

1. The Florida Sunshine Litigation Act allows public access to judicial records, with exemptions for documents related to a “public hazard.”
2. The Act is broad and may be unclear in its application during litigation.
3. Trade secrets are still protected by law, as long as they do not conceal information relating to a “public hazard.”
4. The burden is on the defense to request a court review of documents claimed to contain “public hazard” information by the plaintiff’s legal counsel. – Once a “public hazard” claim is raised, the burden falls on the defendant to seek court review of whether the documents relate to a public hazard.
– Failure to seek court review may result in the defendant waiving the right to later seek review, putting the documents at risk of being open for public review.
– Defense counsel must petition the court for a review of documents before they are produced and request an evidentiary hearing to establish the documents’ worthiness of protection.
– The Act has faced claims of unconstitutionality in court, but none have succeeded as of yet.

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