SCOTUS Finally Agrees To Address Discovery For Use In Foreign Arbitration

On March 22, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in the case brought by Servotronics Inc., where it challenged the Seventh Circuit's decision to reject discovery pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 for use in a private arbitration brought by Rolls-Royce PLC in London. The Supreme Court's decision should resolve the current circuit split on the question of whether Section 1782 can be used for private international arbitration, which has been an ongoing topic of interest among international arbitration practitioners and scholars.

The Fourth and Sixth Circuits held that Section 1782 can be used for private international arbitrations, and the Second, Fifth, and Seventh Circuits held that it cannot. We previously wrote about the Fourth Circuit's decision in Servotronics, Inc. v. Boeing Co., 954 F.3d 209 (4th Cir. 2020) here. A couple months after the Fourth Circuit's decision to permit the use of Section 1782 in private international arbitrations, on September 22,