In re Application for an Order for Judicial Assistance in a Foreign Proceeding in the High Court of Justice
Opinion
lead Opinion
Tevrizian, J.
ORDER GRANTING REVIEW OF AND REVERSING MAGISTRATE JUDGE’S ORDER OF JANUARY 28, 1993, ORDERING GLENN TOBIAS TO SUBMIT TO A PRE-TRIAL DEPOSITION.
Background
This suit arises out of a related foreign proceeding filed on December 22,1992, in the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, in London, England. The foreign action involves approximately thirty-million dollars in misappropriated trust funds. A London court appointed Timothy L’Estrange and John Lehane (“Appellees”) as trustees over the missing funds. Appellees filed the foreign action against several defendants who allegedly have control over approximately twenty-million of the thirty-million dollars missing from the trust account. On January 6, 1993, Appellees amended the foreign complaint to name Glenn Tobias (“Appellant”), a United States citizen, as a defendant in the English action, alleging that he had control over the remaining missing funds. After joining Appellant as a party, the English court allegedly issued an interlocutory order for discovery in the form of a request for production of documents and submission of an affidavit concerning any knowledge of the whereabouts of the missing trust funds.