Petitioner/Claimant seeks review of an order disqualifying his workers’ compensation counsel below for possession of documents deemed privileged. For the reasons explained below, we grant the petition.
This court will grant a certiorari petition when an interlocutory order “departs from the essential requirements of law, causing material injury of an irreparable nature which cannot be remedied on appeal from a final order.”
Commonwealth Land Title Ins. Co. v. Higgins,
As Claimant points out, because disqualification of counsel denies a party its counsel of choice, such disqualification constitutes a material injury not remediable on plenary appeal.
See, e.g., Secours-Maria Manor Nursing Care Ctr., Inc. v. Seaman,
The JCC’s order departed from the essential requirements of law. The employer/Carrier’s (E/C) motion to disqualify counsel contains statements that the E/C disclosed privileged documents to Claimant’s public defender in another proceeding. The E/C has not argued that this disclosure was inadvertent. The E/C’s voluntary disclosure of the documents waived the privilege. See § 90.507, Fla. Stat. (2006). Because the documents were no longer privileged, the JCC’s order disqualifying Claimant’s workers’ compensa *1124 tion counsel below departed from the essential requirements of law.
The petition for writ of certiorari is GRANTED.
