From our private database of 30,900+ case briefs...
Societe Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale v. United States District Court
United States Supreme Court
482 U.S. 522 (1987)
Facts
Societe Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale (SNIA) (plaintiff) was a French corporation being sued by American plaintiffs. After the plaintiffs sought discovery under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), SNIA filed a motion for a protective order with the district court. SNIA claimed that the only way the plaintiffs could seek discovery was under the Hague Evidence Convention (the Convention). The Convention provided procedures for obtaining discovery from a foreign country. SNIA argued that the Convention’s procedures were mandatory and that, even if not mandatory, the plaintiffs were required first to use the procedures before resorting to discovery under the FRCP. The Court held that Convention merely sets out an optional set of procedures to get evidence from a foreign country. The Court declined to create a rule that would require American plaintiffs to follow the Convention’s procedures first before pursuing discovery under the FRCP. Therefore, the district court had jurisdiction to order SNIA to produce evidence located in France. SNIA’s motion for a protective order was denied.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Stevens, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 551,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 30,900 briefs, keyed to 984 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
