Filed: Sep. 04, 2007
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED _ U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ELEVENTH CIRCUIT September 4, 2007 No. 07-10310 THOMAS K. KAHN Non-Argument Calendar CLERK _ D. C. Docket No. 06-02534-CV-TWT-1 ELIZABETH KANG, Petitioner-Appellant, versus NORO-MOSELEY PARTNERS, Respondent-Appellee. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia _ (September 4, 2007) Before BLACK, MARCUS and WILSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Elizab
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED _ U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ELEVENTH CIRCUIT September 4, 2007 No. 07-10310 THOMAS K. KAHN Non-Argument Calendar CLERK _ D. C. Docket No. 06-02534-CV-TWT-1 ELIZABETH KANG, Petitioner-Appellant, versus NORO-MOSELEY PARTNERS, Respondent-Appellee. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia _ (September 4, 2007) Before BLACK, MARCUS and WILSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Elizabe..
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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED
________________________ U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
September 4, 2007
No. 07-10310 THOMAS K. KAHN
Non-Argument Calendar CLERK
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 06-02534-CV-TWT-1
ELIZABETH KANG,
Petitioner-Appellant,
versus
NORO-MOSELEY PARTNERS,
Respondent-Appellee.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Georgia
_________________________
(September 4, 2007)
Before BLACK, MARCUS and WILSON, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Elizabeth Kang appeals the district court’s grant of Noro-Moseley Partners’s
motion to quash subpoena. Kang sought discovery from Noro-Moseley Partners to
use in a civil proceeding in Germany pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782. We review the
district court’s decision for an abuse of discretion. In re Clerici,
481 F.3d 1324,
1331 (11th Cir. 2007). Our review is extremely deferential and identical to the
standard for reviewing ordinary discovery rulings by the district court.
Id.
However to the extent that the district court’s decision is based on an interpretation
of law our review is de novo.
Id.
Section 1782 “authorizes, but does not require, a federal district court to
provide assistance to a complainant . . .” Intel Corp. v. Advanced Micro Devices,
Inc.,
542 U.S. 241, 255,
124 S. Ct. 2466, 2478,
159 L. Ed. 2d. 355 (2004). Under
§ 1782(a), the district court can grant an application for judicial assistance when
the following statutory requirements are met: (1) the request must be made “by a
foreign or international tribunal,” or by “any interested person”; (2) the request
must seek evidence, whether it be the “testimony or statement” of a person or the
production of “a document or other thing”; (3) the evidence must be “for use in a
proceeding in a foreign or international tribunal”; and (4) the person from whom
discovery is sought must reside or be found in the district of the district court
ruling on the application for assistance. 28 U.S.C. § 1782(a). Once these prima
facie requirements are satisfied, the following factors must be considered by the
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district court in exercising its discretion: (1) whether “the person from whom
discovery is sought is a participant in the foreign proceeding,” because “the need
for § 1782(a) aid generally is not as apparent as it ordinarily is when evidence is
sought from a nonparticipant”; (2) “the nature of the foreign tribunal, the character
of the proceedings underway abroad, and the receptivity of the foreign government
or the court or agency abroad to U.S. federal-court judicial assistance”; (3)
“whether the § 1782(a) request conceals an attempt to circumvent foreign
proof-gathering restrictions or other policies of a foreign country or the United
States”; and (4) whether the request is otherwise “unduly intrusive or
burdensome.”
Intel, 542 U.S. at 264-65, 124 S. Ct. at 2483.
Here the district court correctly found that a prima facie case had been met.
It then considered the four Intel factors finding that the first factor weighed in
favor of denying the motion to quash. However, the court found that this factor
was outweighed by the irrelevance of the requested discovery to the nature of the
foreign proceedings. A district court can deny discovery where the information
sought is irrelevant to the causes of action. See Burger King Corp. v. Weaver,
169
F.3d 1310, 1320 (11th Cir. 1999). Given that the district court properly considered
the Intel factors in deciding whether to exercise its discretion and has not abused
his discretion in determining relevance, we can find no reversible error.
AFFIRMED.
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