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Court Finds that ICC is Tribunal for Purposes of Section 1782 Discovery Assistance

Client Alert | 1 min read | 11.11.08

28 USC 1782 is a US statute authorizing federal courts to grant discovery assistance to persons and entities involved in disputes before a tribunal outside the US. In In re Application of Babcock Borsig AG, CA No. 08-mc-10128-DPW, Oct. 30, 2008, a federal district court in Massachusetts held that the ICC is a "tribunal" within the meaning of section 1782, and thus, the court had the statutory authority to order a person or entity within the US to provide documents or testimony for use in a foreign proceeding(here, an ICC proceeding). In this particular case, however, the court decided not to exercise its discretion to grant the discovery request until it received evidence that the ICC panel would be receptive to material obtained pursuant to section 1782. The growing body of law on this point highlights the importance of section 1782 as a strategic consideration for those involved in disputes outside of the US, if there is a person or entity in the US with evidence bearing on the issues, whether or not that person is a party to the proceedings outside the US.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25

A Sign of What’s to Come? Court Dismisses FCA Retaliation Complaint Based on Alleged Discriminatory Use of Federal Funding

On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future....