NCJ Number
116116
Journal
Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: (November 1988) Pages: 217-323
Date Published
1988
Length
107 pages
Annotation
Analysis of United States Supreme Court decision in the case of Societe Industrielle Aerospatiale v. United States District Court shows that the Court missed the first opportunity since 1958 to address the complex problems that have plagued domestic and foreign litigants in transnational discovery disputes.
Abstract
After engaging in a cursory investigation into the history and operation of The Hague Evidence Convention, the Court concluded that the Convention serves as an optional supplement to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to be used when it will facilitate the gathering of evidence in foreign countries. This position may produce short-term benefits for domestic litigants, who may now believe that proceedings under the Federal Rules will provide them with broader and more powerful procedures. Nevertheless, the gathering of evidence abroad under the Federal Rules will continue to be thwarted by the existence of foreign blocking statutes, so that in many cases discovery attempts will not be fruitful. The Court was swayed by its overriding concern with halting foreign manipulation of domestic judicial proceedings and failed to consider carefully the long-term implications of undermining the utility of the Convention. International judicial cooperation is likely to be adversely affected by the Court's decision, and repeated failure to take advantage of the Convention will inevitably affect its continued viability. 657 footnotes.