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[01/15] Weber v. FinkerIn a case involving the authority of the federal district courts to assist litigants before foreign tribunals with the production of evidence in the U.S., partial grant and denial of petitioner's motion to compel discovery filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. section 1742(a) is affirmed where: 1) the circuit court rejects a claim that petitioner should have brought her request for judicial assistance under The Treaty Between the United States of America and the Swiss Confederation on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, as opposed to section 1782; 2) the district court was well within its discretion to order discovery pursuant to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; and 3) shareholders waived a claim that the district court erred in finding the motion to compel could be treated as a pretrial matter that could be referred to a Magistrate Judge.

The named insured and named party in a London reinsurance arbritration requested that the district court order a non-party witness to testify in the arbitration.

The non-party argued that the scope of 28 U.S.C. §1782 was limited to only governmental entities.

While the District Court conceded that the court’s powers under 28 U.S.C. §1782 have been expanded over the past several years, the Intel decision did not specifically reference private arbitrations as one of those areas in which the statute granted authority.  The District Court, therefore, declined to follow several subsequent decisions which interpreted the Intel decision to apply to private arbitrations.