Judge sets aside order made pursuant to a letter of request from
a US Court.
This was an application to set aside an order made by a master
pursuant to a letter of request issued by a US court requiring the
UK applicant to provide oral evidence and documents.
Cockerill J confirmed that the first step when considering a
contentious letter of request is to keep an eye on the underpinning
jurisdiction: "In other words, when talking of compelling oral
evidence the comparator is with when a witness summons would be
available in proceedings in the English Court". A two-stage
test has been laid down in the case of First American Corp v Sheikh
Zayed Al-Nahyan [1999], namely: (i) whether the intended witness
can reasonably be expected to have relevant evidence and (ii)
whether there is an intention to obtain evidence for use at trial.
Unless the US court has considered the English approach and
confirmed that the evidence sought is relevant to issues for trial,
the English
