Opinion ID: 2686330
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: intel analysis

Text: Once a District Court determines that it has jurisdiction over the request, the District Court has discretion to decide whether or not to grant it. See id. at 83-84. The Supreme Court has provided guidance in the form of several factors that a court should weigh in exercising its discretion. These considerations are: (1) whether “the person from whom discovery is sought is [not] a participant in the foreign proceeding,” which militates in favor of granting the request; (2) “the nature of the 3 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 “unduly intrusive or burdensome.” Intel Corp. v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., 542 U.S. 241, 264-65 (2004). Here, the District Court correctly found that the mandatory, jurisdictional factors were met. It then applied the Intel factors, described above, to guide the exercise of its discretion, and determined that the Intel factors weighed against granting the request. We conclude that, in the circumstances presented, the District Court acted within its discretion in denying the § 1782 discovery request based on the facts before it. However, we also note that the various foreign actions cited by plaintiffs as potential avenues for using the sought discovery are continually in flux. The District Court’s judgment should in no way be interpreted to bar plaintiffs from renewing the motion if appropriate circumstances arise in the future. Accordingly, we hereby ORDER that defendant not destroy any records, documents, or materials that may reasonably be considered to be subject to discovery under the § 1782 request denied by the District Court, for a period of five years from the date of the entry of this Order. The District Court, having denied the discovery request for other reasons, had no occasion to evaluate the fourth Intel factor, examining whether the request was overly burdensome. Therefore, if plaintiffs make a renewed § 1782 discovery request in the future, the district court presented with the request may then consider whether it is overbroad.