IN RE: APPLICATION OF NICHOLAS LAMOTTE FOR AN ORDER TO TAKE DISCOVERY FOR USE IN FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1782

A federal miscellaneous proceeding is open under docket 26-mc-00063, filed by Nicholas LaMotte seeking court-ordered discovery for use in foreign litigation under 28 U.S.C. § 1782.

That statute lets a federal court compel testimony or document production from a person or entity in the United States when the material is needed in a proceeding before a foreign or international tribunal. LaMotte's application asks a federal court to act as a discovery arm for whatever foreign proceeding he is pursuing.

The court issued an order on April 20, 2026. The docket does not yet show which court is handling the case, and no judge has been publicly assigned. The substance of the April 20 order — whether it granted, denied, or conditioned the discovery request — is not reflected in the available record.

Section 1782 applications live or die on three statutory requirements: the target must reside or be found in the district, the discovery must be for use in a foreign proceeding, and the applicant must be an interested person. Courts also weigh four discretionary factors set out by the Supreme Court in Intel Corp. v.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., 542 U.S. 241 (2004): whether the target is a party to the foreign proceeding, the nature of the foreign tribunal, whether the request is an attempt to circumvent foreign proof-gathering limits, and whether the request is unduly intrusive or burdensome.

Nothing in the current record identifies the foreign tribunal, the target of the discovery, or the subject matter of the underlying dispute. Until those details surface — through a public filing, a response from a subpoena target, or a contested hearing — the case's practical stakes remain opaque. Section 1782 proceedings can move fast when unopposed; they become protracted when the discovery target fights back.