Show Some Respect: International Privacy and Comity Concerns May Become More Important in Foreign E-Discovery Disputes

http://ow.ly/9ptfK

An article by Jeffrey L. Nagel posted on the E-Discovery Law Alert website of the law firm Gibbons.

This article takes a look at disputes involving foreign jurisdictions to the U.S.

The article states, "Twenty-five years ago in Aerospatiale v. District Court of Iowa the United States Supreme Court admonished lower courts that international comity compels them to “take care to demonstrate due respect for any special problem confronted by the foreign litigant on account of its nationality or the location of its operations, and for any sovereign interest expressed by a foreign state.” And for the last twenty-five years, courts generally have not heeded that advice, giving short-shrift to the idea that foreign privacy or data protection laws must be enforced if the result is to limit discovery of relevant information. At the urging of lawyers and several influential organizations, that could finally be changing.
Recent announcements from two influential groups — the American Bar Association and The Sedona Conference® — make it clear that those who practice in the area of cross-border disputes need courts to better balance the tension between the need for information and the “due respect” owed to foreign data protection and privacy laws in connection with the collection and production of electronically stored information (ESI) originating outside the United States."  A link to the referenced case opinion, and to the Sedona conference is provided in the article.

The article goes on to discuss further issues that come into play during disputes where other nations are involved, including recent ABA Report and Resolution 103.