American Home Assurance Co. v. Société Commerciale Toutélectric

In Société Nat. Ind. Aéro. v. U. S. Dist. Court (1987) 482 U.S. 522 [ 107 S.Ct. 2542 , 96 L.Ed.2d 461 ] (Aérospatiale), the United States Supreme Court rejected the idea that discovery in a foreign country subscribing to the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters (the Hague Convention) must first proceed under the Hague Convention before discovery is attempted under federal rules. The court deemed such a requirement both unwise and inconsistent with the text of the Hague Convention. (Id. at pp. 542-543 [107 S.Ct. at pp. 2554-2555].) It held that the interests of international comity demanded a “more particularized analysis” involving “prior scrutiny in each case of the particular facts, sovereign interests, and likelihood that resort to [Hague Convention] procedures will prove effective.” (Id. at p. 544 [ 107 S.Ct. at p. 2556 ].)

We hold that the rule of first resort to the Hague Convention announced in Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft v. Superior Court (1981) 123 Cal.App.3d 840, 858 [ 176 Cal.Rptr. 874 ] (Volkswagenwerk) has been superseded by the balancing test provided in Aérospatiale. We also conclude that the Aerospatiale…