Zhao Changpeng, founder and chief executive officer of Binance attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 16, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
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(Reuters) – If you handle complex international cases and you aren’t routinely strategizing about how to capitalize on a U.S. law that allows litigants to petition U.S. courts for discovery related to foreign litigation, you’re probably not doing everything you can for your clients.
The law, Section 1782 of Title 28 of the U.S. Code, permits parties engaged in foreign litigation to ask federal judges to authorize discovery related to their overseas claims. You probably recall that the U.S. Supreme Court shut the door last month on 1782 discovery in private commercial arbitration. But the Supreme Court’s decision only restricts petitions for 1782 discovery in connection with foreign arbitration, leaving participants in foreign litigation free to turn to U.S. courts with requests for discovery.
That they are, and in droves, said Lucas Bento of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the author of a 2019 treatise on 1782 discovery. Since 2010, Bento said, the number of 1782 petitions for discovery has increased by 500%. Every year, he said, brings more petitions for discovery than the last – and every month, Bento said, he spots new rulings from U.S….
