Letters Of Request Denied For Access To Confidential Business Information

The process by which a foreign court seeks the assistance of an Ontario court to gather evidence for use in local proceedings, as discussed in a previous  blog, involves bringing an application to enforce Letters of Request (LoR). LoRs are frequently sought in Canada in connection with legal proceedings in the United States.

The Ontario Court of Appeal has released a further decision on the issuance of LoRs which addresses a request for confidential —  but not necessarily privileged — business information: Actava TV, Inc. v. Matvil Corp.,  2021 ONCA 105.

The LoR in question arose from ongoing litigation in the Southern District of New York, District Court, between various Russian TV Channels (owners, operators, and producers of television channels that are broadcast in Russian), and Actava TV, Inc. ("Actava"), which was in the business of streaming Russian-language TV channels to customers in North America.