28 USC § 1782

Section 1782.  District court holds that Section 1782 discovery may be used in aid of private international arbitration.   In re: Application of Babcock Borsig AG for Assistance Before a Foreign Tribunal, Case No. 08-mc-10128-DPW (D. Mass. 2008) [click for opinion]

Section 1782.  District court holds that Section 1782 discovery may not be used in aid of private international arbitration.    La Comision Ejecutiva Hidroelecctrica del Rio Lempa v. El Paso Corp., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94395 (S.D. Tex. Nov. 20, 2008) [click for opinion]

Title: Weber v. Finker

[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 Appellants are shareholders in Itera Group, Ltd., a Cypriot corporation, who all reside in Jacksonville, Florida (“Florida shareholders”).

The Florida shareholders appeal the Magistrate Judge’s April 15, 2008 Order granting in part and denying in part Galina Weber’s Motion to Compel Discovery, and thedistrict court’s May 20, 2008 affirmance of that Order.

Weber is a citizen of Switzerland and a resident of Monaco. Like the Florida shareholders, she is a shareholder of Itera Group.