Tenev v. Thurston
Tenev v. Thurston
Case Date: | 03/09/2016 |
Citation: | Tenev v. Thurston, 198 So. 3d 798 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016) |
Court Type: | District Court of Appeal |
Court: | Fla. 2d DCA |
Judge: | Judge: Daniel H. Sleet |
Rule(s): | Professional Responsibility - Rule 4-3.3 |
Issues: | Attorney Tenev appealed the trial court’s granting of sanctions. Tenev found out before trial that a juror was Facebook friends with one of Thurston’s employees and moved to strike the juror. The trial court then imposed sanctions on Tenev for violating the no contact rule and for giving evasive answers when questioned how she found out about the Facebook friendship. |
Resolution: | The Court reversed the sanctions. The dishonest answers Tenev gave did not amount to a mistrial, and it is not against the rules for attorneys to research jurors. Further, Tenev received the information from her client’s wife and was obligated to prevent potential bias to her client at trial. |
Relevant Documents: | |
E-Discovery Issues: | Ethics, Motion for Sanctions |
E-discovery Tags: | Non-Party Discovery, Sanctions |
E-discovery subjects: | Social Media |