Jurisdiction (personal jurisdiction in defamation cases)

Pages35-42
35
international law update Volume 18, April–June 2012
© 2012 Transnational Law Associates, LLC. All rights reserved. ISSN 1089-5450, ISSN 1943-1287 (on-line) | www.internationallawupdate.com
Rules of Civil Procedure, ‘[p]arties may obtain
discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter
that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense—
including the existence, description, nature,
custody, condition, and location of any documents
. . . .’ Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Id. at 1385.’”
“CONECEL’s discovery requests in the instant
section 1782 application were undeniably relevant
to CONECEL’s defense in the pending arbitration.
CONECEL’s defense in the arbitration is based on
establishing that JASE overbilled in violation of
the contractual arrangement between the parties.
Evidence in JAS USA’s possession relating to, for
example, ‘the rates charged or to be charged to
CONECEL’ or ‘the procedure or methodology for
applying the rates to be charged to CONECEL’ is
plainly relevant to this defense. Moreover, we nd
unpersuasive JASE’s unsubstantiated claim that JAS
USA’s compliance with the subpoena would require
the disclosure of condential pricing information
that would harm its competitiveness in the
marketplace. On its face, CONECEL’s application
does not seek general price information from JASE
or JAS USA or information about how JASE or JAS
USA bills any other clients besides CONECEL.
Rather, every request in the application that bears
on pricing information uses language limiting
the request to information relating directly to
CONECEL, such as ‘the rates charged or to be
charged to CONECEL,’ or ‘services provided by
JAS Ecuador or its aliates to CONECEL,’ or
‘billing or invoicing to CONECEL,’ or ‘services
rendered . . . in connection with shipments to
CONECEL.’ e district court did not abuse its
discretion in concluding that the subpoena requests
information that ‘relates directly to the contract at
issue’ and was ‘narrowly tailored.’” [Slip op. 22-24]
e Court therefore arms the District Court.
citation: Application of Consorcio Ecuatoriano de
Telecomunicaciones S.A., Pursuant to 28 USC 1782
for Judicial Assistance in Obtaining Evidence From
JAS Forwarding (USA), Inc., For Use In a Foreign
Tribunal v. JAS Forwarding (USA), Inc., No. 11-
12897 (11th Cir. June 25, 2012).
juRisdiction
(PeRsonAl
juRisdiction in
deFAMAtion cAses)
Where Defendant publisher of book
that accused Plaintiff, an international
mining corporation, of human rights
violations overseas, Plaintiff brought
libel action in Ontario courts wherein
the Defendants moved to stay the
Ontario action, submitting [1] that there
was no real and substantial connection
between the subject-matter of the
action and Ontario and [2] that the
Ontario court was not the convenient
forum for the action; Supreme Court of
Canada upheld the propriety of resort
to the Ontario courts
e Appellant is Les Éditions Écosociété Inc.
(Écosociété). It is the publisher of a book by A.
Deneault, with D. Abadie and W. Sacher, entitled
Noir Canada: Pillage, corruption et criminalité en
Afrique (2008) (Noir Canada); the book comments
on the international mining activities of some
Canadian corporations, including the Respondent,
Banro Corporation (Banro).
Banro brought an action in Ontario against
Écosociété, Deneult, Abadie and Sacher, alleging
that Noir Canada’s content is libellous and that the
book accuses Banro of committing human rights
violations and fraud to further its nancial interests
in Africa. e defendants moved to stay the Ontario
action, submitting [1] that there was no real and
substantial connection between the subject-matter
of the action and Ontario and [2] that the Ontario
court was not the convenient forum for the action.
Banro is incorporated under the Canada
Business Corporations Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-44. It
engages in the exploration and development of gold
properties in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC). Banro’s activities are international in scope;
it has oces and hundreds of employees located in
Ontario, the United Kingdom, South Africa and

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