Arizona Revised Statutes (Last Updated: March 31, 2016) |
Title 12. Courts and Civil Proceedings |
Chapter 13. EVIDENCE |
Article 10. Health and Safety Audit Privilege |
Sec 12-2325. Disclosure required by court or administrative hearing; appeals; sanctions
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A. A court or administrative hearing officer with competent jurisdiction may require disclosure of a portion of an audit report in a civil or administrative proceeding if the court or administrative hearing officer determines after an in camera review that any of the following applies:
1. The privilege is asserted for a fraudulent purpose.
2. The portion of the audit report is not subject to the privilege under section 12-2326.
3. The portion of the audit report shows evidence of noncompliance with a health or safety law and appropriate efforts to achieve compliance with the law were not promptly initiated and pursued with reasonable diligence after the discovery of the noncompliance.
B. A party seeking disclosure under this section has the burden of proving that subsection A of this section applies.
C. Notwithstanding any other law, a disclosure decision of an administrative hearing officer under subsection A of this section is directly appealable to a court of competent jurisdiction without disclosure of the audit report to any person unless disclosure is ordered by the court.
D. An organization claiming the privilege is subject to sanctions as prescribed by the rules of civil procedure or to a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand dollars, if the court finds that the organization intentionally or knowingly claimed the privilege for nonprivileged materials prescribed in section 12-2326.
E. A court determination under this section is subject to interlocutory appeal to the court of appeals.