ZF Automotive U.S., Inc. v. Luxshare, Ltd. (U.S. Sup. Ct.)

Under 28 U.S.C. §1782(a), the U.S. Congress permits federal district courts to order testimony or the production of documents “for use in a proceeding in a foreign or international tribunal.” For the past two decades, U.S. Courts of Appeals have been split over whether 28 U.S.C. §1782 applies to private international commercial arbitrations. On June 13, 2022, in a unanimous opinion delivered by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court of the United States held that it does not. To the extent that §1782(a) may apply to investor-state arbitrations, the Court held that the scope of the statute is limited to adjudicative bodies imbued with governmental or intergovernmental authority. Access to U.S. discovery procedures has thereby been narrowed significantly in the context of international arbitration.