U.S. Supreme Court Holds that Section 1782 Discovery does not Apply to Private Foreign or International Arbitration Proceedings

On June 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a long-awaited opinion on the scope of 28 U.S.C. § 1782 (“Section 1782”), unanimously holding that only a governmental or intergovernmental adjudicative body constitutes a “foreign or international tribunal” for purposes of Section 1782.Thus, Section 1782 applications cannot be used to obtain discovery in aid of private arbitration proceedings abroad. The two consolidated cases before the Court both involved parties seeking discovery in the United States for the use in foreign private arbitrations, but involved different tribunals; one case involved a private commercial arbitration, while the other involved an ad hoc investment arbitration.