Reported / Citable
Background
Man of Creation Co., Ltd., a Korean company, filed an ex parte application under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 seeking discovery from X Corp. for use in a pending civil defamation action in the Republic of Korea.
The company sought to serve a subpoena for identifying information about an X user alleged to have posted defamatory comments. It said the information was needed to identify the user and serve that person with process in the Korean case.
The Court’s Holding
The court granted the application and authorized Man of Creation to serve its proposed subpoena on X Corp. It found that the statutory requirements of Section 1782 were met: X resides in the district, the discovery was for use in a foreign proceeding, and Man of Creation, as plaintiff in that proceeding, was an interested person.
The court also found that the discretionary Intel factors favored discovery. X was not a participant in the Korean case; the record indicated the Korean tribunal would consider relevant evidence; there was no showing that the request sought to evade Korean discovery restrictions; and the request for limited identifying information was not facially unduly burdensome. Although anonymous speech can implicate the First Amendment, the court concluded that the present record provided no reason to believe the user was a U.S. citizen or located in the United States. X may seek reconsideration or move to quash after receiving the subpoena.
Key Takeaways
- A foreign litigant may use Section 1782 to seek identifying information from a U.S.-based platform for a pending foreign defamation case.
- On the ex parte record, the court held that all four Intel factors supported the narrowly tailored subpoena.
- The order remains subject to reconsideration or a motion to quash by X Corp.
Why It Matters
The decision illustrates that Section 1782 can provide a path to identify anonymous online speakers when the platform is located in the United States and the underlying litigation is abroad.
It also underscores the provisional nature of ex parte Section 1782 orders: a subpoena recipient may later challenge both the statutory showing and the discretionary analysis.