Perles Law Firm, P.C. v. Qatar National Bank, et al.

28 U.S.C. § 1782 allows foreign litigants to seek discovery in federal district courts “for use in foreign tribunals.” Intel Corp. v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., 542 U.S. 241, 247 (2004). Respondents Qatar Charity and Qatar Bank filed an application under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking discovery against Perles Law Firm, P.C. But a binding protective order issued by a federal district court in another Circuit prevented Qatar Charity and Qatar Bank from accessing the very materials they sought under 28 U.S.C. § 1782. Despite Perles’s arguments that § 1782 may not be used as a forum-shopping, end run around a binding protective order, the D.C. district court granted the § 1782 application, and the D.C. Circuit affirmed. The question presented is whether a district court may grant an application under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 when it would amount to a modification of a binding protective order issued by a federal district court in another Circuit.