JEFFREY EPSTEIN Plaintiff vs SCOTT ROTHSTEIN individually BRADLEY EDWARDS individually and L.M individually Defendant I IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY FLORIDA CASE NON-PARTY PODHURST ORSECK P.A.S MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER AND ST A OF ORDER Non-Party Podhurst Orseck P.A Podhurst pursuant to Fla Civ and moves for a protective order in Podhursts favor as to the Notice of Deposition Duces Tecum of Records Custodian of Bankruptcy Trustee Herbert Stettin Plaintiff Epsteins second Trustee discovery request for additional email production from Defendant Bradley Edwards Edwards in the above-referenced matter and in the alternative asks this Court to stay the requested production until such time as this motion can be heard The grounds for this motion are as follows Podhurst has learned that Jeffrey Epstein has issued a Subpoena Duces Tecum for inter alia the e-mails of Edwards while he was employed at Rothstein Rosenfeldt and Adler P.A RRA Podhurst Orseck P.A West Flagler Street Suite Miami FL Miami Fax Fort Lauderdale w.podhurstcom CASE NO Upon infonnation and belief this request includes and if not protected would allow Jeffrey Epstein to obtain numerous communications between Edwards and attorneys from Podhurst that are subject to the attorney work product doctrine contain attorney-client privileged confidential information and/or are subject to the common interest privilege often called the joint defense privilege These emails were generated while Edwards was working in conjunction with Podhurst in litigation on behalf of their respective clients who had claims against Jeffrey Epstein On the grounds of privilege as set forth in paragraph above movants object to the production of these e-mails many of which are believed to contain sensitive and confidential information as well as thoughts legal research and strategies pertaining to litigation by Podhursts clients against Jeffrey Epstein Upon information and belief this production would not only be so voluminous as to be burdensome to review but it is unlikely that Edwards or other counsel with whom he had mailed much less the Trustee would permit Podhurst to conduct such review due to otherwise privileged matter unrelated to Podhurst contained within the body of documents The joint defense doctrine also known as the common interests doctrine or the pooled information doctrine establishes an exception to the general rule that the attorney-client privilege is waived upon the voluntary disclosure of the privileged information to a third party The joint defense doctrine allows parties who share unified interests to exchange privileged information to adequately prepare their cases without losing the protection afforded by the attorney-client privilege Under this doctrine attorneys for clients sharing common litigation interests may exchange infonnation freely among themselves without fear that by their exchange they will forfeit the protection of the attorney-client privilege Axiomatic to the joint defense doctiine is the existence of multiple parties and also multiple attorneys In re Indiantown Realty Partners Ltd Partnership Bkrtcy S.D Fla B.R See also Cone Culverhouse So 2d Fla Dist Ct App 2d Dist Visual Scene Inc Pill-cington Bros pie So 2d Fla Dist Ct App 3d Dist Springer United Services Auto Ass So 2d Fla Dist Ct App th Dist Podhurst Orseck P.A West Flagler Street Suite Miami FL Miami Fax Fort Lauderdale w.podhurst.com CASE NO Courts have broad discretion to limit or prohibit discovery in order to protect a person from annoyance emban-assment oppression or undue burden or expense Rasmussen South Florida Blood Service So 2d Fla Fla Civ provides that a trial court may enter an order to protect the person from whom discovery is sought from undue burden or expense Upon infonnation and belief Jeffrey Epstein has made prior voluminous discovery requests in this matter including pages of e-mails which were produced despite Edwards contention that nearly all of them were entirely irrelevant to Epsteins putative case We have been informed that Epstein has requested an additional pages of e-mail messages generated and/or received by Edwards during the time in which he was employed at RRA to be produced including the referenced privileged communications between Edwards and Podhurst attorneys During the period that the subject communications occurred Edwards and Podhurst represented about two dozen young women who had been molested and criminally subjected to prostitution by Jeffrey Epstein The e-mails between Edwards and the Podhurst contain communications regarding attorneys thoughts legal research planning and exploration of strategic alternatives in regard to their similar representation of victims of Plaintiff Jeffrey Epstein who had similar claims and experiences Judge Man-a consolidated all discovery matters in these related cases filed in front of Judge Marra of the United States District Court in and for the Southern District of Florida We have been informed that due to their volume and their being in the custody of the Trustee in the bankruptcy action involving Scott Rothstein and RRA these documents have not been Bates stamped and entered in this matter on any privilege log as a result of which Podhurst Orseck P.A West Flagler Street Suite Miami FL Miami Fax Fort Lauderdale w.podhurst.com CASE NO Plaintiff Jeffrey Epstein argues they may be subject to production Non-party Podhurst requests that this Court enter an order protecting these voluminous irrelevant superfluous confidential and privileged e-mails or that the Comi stay production until such time as Podhurst may be heard on this issue Podhurst adopts all applicable portions of Edwards Motion for Protective Order Objections to Cancelled Notice of Deposition Duces Tecum of Records Custodian of Trustee Herbert Stettin January and Motion for Appointment of Robert Camey as Special Master filed on February The undersigned hereby certifies that she has conferred regarding the relief sought by this motion with Jack Goldberger Esq counsel for Plaintiff Jeffrey Epstein who is unable to agree to Podhursts request for protection WHEREFORE in light of the foregoing movant non-party Podhurst Orseck P.A asks this Court to issue an order of protection or in the alternative an order staying proceedings until such time as this non-partys motion has been heard by the Court DA TED this st day of March Podhurst Orseck P.A Respectfully submitted PODHURST ORSECK P.A City National Bank Bldg Flagler Street Suite Miami Florida Telephone Facsimile By Robert Josefsberg Fla Bar No Katherine Ezell Fla Bar No rjoscfsberg podhurst.com l:czell podhurst.com West Flagler Street Suite Miami FL Miami Fax Fort Lauderdale w.podhurst.com CASE NO CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE WE HEREBY CERTIFY that a true and correct copy of the foregoing was mailed this st day of March to all counsel/parties listed on the attached Service List Podhurst Orseck P.A Respectfully submitted l?ODHURST ORSECK P.A City National Bank Bldg Flagler Street Suite Miami Florida Telephone Facsimile By Ll Robert Josefsberg Fla Bar No Katherine Ezell Fla Bar No rjosefsberg podhurst.com kezell podhurst.com West Flagler Street Suite Miami FL Miami Fax Fort Lauderdale w.podhurst.com Jack A Goldberger Esq Atterbury Goldberger Weiss P.A Attorney For Jeffrey Epstein SERVICE LIST Australian A venue South Suite West Palm Beach FL Phone Fax Bradley Edwards Esq Faimer Jaffe Weissing Edwards Fistos Lehrman PL Andrews Avenue Suite Fort Lauderdale FL Phone Fax Marc Nurik Esq Law Offices of Marc Nurik Attorney For Scott Rothstein One Broward Blvd Suite Fort Lauderdale FL Phone Fax Joseph Ackennan Jr Esq Fowler White Burnett P.A Attorney For Jeffrey Esptein Phillips Point West Flagler Drive West Palm Beach Fl Phone Fax Podhurst Orseck P.A West Flagler Street Suite Miami FL Miami Fax Fort Lauderdale w.podhurst.com
7,923 characters
