The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on June 13 that a Chinese manufacturer is not allowed to use the U.S. legal system to compel the production of evidence in a private arbitration taking place overseas.
The high court held that federal district courts are unable to compel discovery in an arbitration case outside the United States governed by a private organization, even when an international treaty makes discovery a possibility, unless the nations in the treaty intended the arbitration panel to possess governmental authority.
The decision comes in a complex case pitting a Hong Kong-based company against a U.S. automobile parts manufacturer…