Dorilton Capital Management LLC et al. v. Stilus LLC et al.

Summary

The Appellate Division, First Department affirmed an order directing defendants to submit a Letter of Request to obtain the deposition of a nonparty located in Jersey, United Kingdom, under the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad. The court held that the deposition testimony was sufficiently crucial, relevant, and unavailable through other means to justify international discovery.

Holdings

1. When discovery is sought from a nonparty in a foreign jurisdiction that is a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters, application of the Convention is virtually compulsory; a domestic court may seek the discovery through a Letter of Request to the appropriate foreign jurisdiction.
2. Before authorizing international discovery under the Hague Convention, the court must conduct a case-specific balancing of sovereign and party interests; the movant must establish that the information sought is crucial to resolution of a key issue in the litigation.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Supreme Court properly directed defendants to seek de Putron's foreign deposition through a Letter of Request under the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters.
2. Whether the requested deposition testimony was sufficiently crucial, targeted, relevant, and unavailable through other means to justify international discovery.

Disposition

affirmed