There is No First Amendment Right of Access to Pretrial Discovery Materials

FLORIDA CASE LAW UPDATES
Valencia v. PennyMac Holdings, 3D20-1727 (Fla. 3rd DCA Feb. 17, 2021).

​The Court dismissed a borrower’s petition for writ of certiorari that sought to quash a circuit court order allowing the borrower to videotape a deposition of the substituted plaintiff's corporate representative, but prohibiting the petitioner from “disseminating, publishing, distributing, or using the records (written, audio, and visual) of U.S. Bank’s corporate representative outside of this litigation.” The Petition was dismissed for failure to demonstrate irreparable harm that could not be remedied on direct appeal. With respect to the Petitioner’s argument that the lower court's order unconstitutionally gagged petitioner's speech, it is settled law that there is no First Amendment right of access to pretrial discovery materials.