ICC Commercial Crime Service

Precedent-Setting Decision Regarding 28 U.S.C. § 1782

Recently, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers the federal districts in Florida) issued a new opinion regarding 28 U.S.C. § 1782: Sergeeva v. Tripleton Int’l Ltd., 2016 WL 4435616 (11th Cir. August 23, 2016). The case developed in the context of an ex-wife’s application for judicial assistance to obtain evidence for use in Russian proceedings to divide marital assets.

In Sergeeva, the Eleventh Circuit found that, because Section 1782 plainly states that discovery is to be produced pursuant to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Trident (an Atlanta-based company) had to produce all responsive documents in its possession, custody, or control, even if the documents were located outside of the United States. In doing so, the court rejected Trident’s argument that Section 1782 could not have extra territorial reach. Moreover, the court also required Trident to produce documents in the physical possession and custody of its affiliate, Trident Bahamas, based on the circumstantial evidence that Trident and Trident Bahamas regularly shared documents and information.

What is Section 1782?

28 U.S.C. § 1782 allows U.S. federal courts to order discovery for use in foreign proceedings that are pending or reasonably contemplated.

How is it useful?

Section 1782 can be used to obtain evidence for use in any type of foreign proceeding including, civil, criminal, administrative, probate, divorce, and in most cases, arbitration.

The author would like to acknowledge Cristina Vicens for her contribution to the piece.

Edward H. Davis, Jr. has practiced law for 28 years, and is a founding shareholder of the Miami international law firm, Astigarraga Davis. As a Certified Fraud Examiner, he heads the firm's Asset Recovery and Financial Fraud group, representing victims of fraud and grand corruption including governments, governmental entities, corporations, hedge funds, insolvency practitioners and individuals by investigating and prosecuting civil fraud and asset recovery actions. He serves as inaugural chair of the International Bar Association’s Anti-Corruption Committee’s Subcommittee on Asset Recovery, and is a leading original member of the London-based International Chamber of Commerce Commercial Crimes Services FraudNet Network. In 2013 Ed has been recognized as the Asset Recovery Lawyer of the Year by Who’s Who Legal since 2014.





ICC FraudNet is an international network of independent lawyers, who are leading civil asset recovery specialists in each country. Recognized by Chambers Global as the world’s leading asset recovery legal network, our membership extends to every continent and the world’s major economies, as well as leading offshore wealth havens that have complex bank secrecy laws and institutions where the proceeds of fraud often are hidden. Founded in 2004 by the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the world’s business organization, FraudNet operates under the auspices of the ICC’s London-based Commercial Crime Services unit.