Eric Omar Herrera v. Lada Havlova Herrera

Opinion

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed April 30, 2025. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

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No. 3D24-0896 Lower Tribunal No. 21-DR-267-K ________________

Eric Omar Herrera, Appellant,

vs.

Lada Havlova Herrera, et al., Appellee.

An Appeal from a non-final order from the Circuit Court for Monroe County, Bonnie J. Helms, Judge.

Joyce Law, P.A., and Richard F. Joyce, for appellant.

Lawrence E. Harkenrider; Robert B. Goldman, for appellee.

Before FERNANDEZ, MILLER and BOKOR, JJ.

PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Goff v. Goff, 276 So. 3d 83, 87 (Fla. 2d DCA 2019)

(quashing disqualification of counsel under Florida Rule of Professional

Conduct 4-1.9 where attorney’s prior representation was wholly distinct

from dissolution proceeding and any confidential financial information

obtained from prior representation was encompassed by parties’ financial

disclosures); R. Regulating Fla. Bar. 4-1.9 Comments (“Matters are

‘substantially related’ for purposes of this rule if they involve the same

transaction or legal dispute, or if the current matter would involve the

lawyer attacking work that the lawyer performed for the former client.”); see

also Zayas-Bazan v. Marcelin, 40 So. 3d 870, 872–73 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010)

(“A party can waive his right to seek disqualification of the opposing party’s

counsel by failing to promptly move for disqualification upon learning of the

facts leading to the alleged conflict. The rationale behind this rule is to

prevent a litigant from using the motion as a tool to deprive his opponent of

counsel of his choice after completing substantial preparation of the case.”

(citations and quotations omitted)).