Court Finds Foreign Discovery “Marginally Relevant” and “Not Proportional,” Declines to Compel Search
In re Bard IVC Filters Prod. Liab. Litig., —F.R.D.—, 2016 WL 4943393 (D. Ariz. Sept. 16, 2016)
In this case, the parties disagreed on the discoverability of communications between Defendants’ foreign subsidiaries and divisions and foreign regulators regarding the filters at issue in the case. Following analysis of the effects of the December 1, 2015 amendments on Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1) and of the specific facts of the case, US District Court Judge David Campbell—Chair of the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure—determined that the at-issue communications were “only marginally relevant” and was persuaded that “the burden of [the] foreign discovery would be substantial.” Thus, the court concluded that Defendants were not required to search their foreign entities for communications with foreign regulators.