U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Radu v. Johnson Shon, Docket No. 22-16316, For Publication

Foreign Law

 

Interpretation of Foreign Law

 

Judicial Notice

 

Expert Testimony

 

Legal Research (Int’l)

 

Comity (Int’l)

 

Federal Procedure

 

 

 

(…) Federal Rules of Evidence. Fed. R. Civ. P. 44.1. Moreover, “the court is not limited by material presented by the parties; it may engage in its own research and consider any relevant material thus found.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 44.1 advisory committee’s note to 1966 amendment. That said, “expert testimony accompanied by extracts from foreign legal materials has been and will likely continue to be the basic mode of proving foreign law.” Universe Sales Co., Ltd. v. Silver Castle, Ltd., 182 F.3d 1036, 1038 (9th Cir. 1999). Courts nonetheless have an “independent obligation to adequately ascertain relevant foreign law, even if the parties’ submissions are lacking.” de Fontbrune, 838 F.3d at 997. Though international comity requires American courts to “carefully consider a foreign state’s views about the meaning of its own laws,” that deference has its limits. Animal Sci. Prods., Inc. v. Hebei Welcome Pharm. Co., 138 S. Ct. 1865, 1873 (2018). “The appropriate weight in each case . . . will depend upon the circumstances; a federal court is neither bound to adopt the foreign government’s characterization nor required to ignore other relevant materials.” Id.

 

 

(…) And our de novo review of the ultimate legal conclusion ensures that foreign legal issues are treated like domestic ones.

 

 

The district court neither abused its discretion nor violated Shon’s due process rights by communicating with the State Department and, through it, the German Central Authority. “Independent judicial research” on a legal question “does not implicate the judicial notice and ex parte issues spawned by independent factual research.” de Fontbrune, 838 F.3d at 999; see also G&G Prods. LLC v. Rusic, 902 F.3d 940, 948 (9th Cir. 2018) (“formal notice” of court’s intent to research foreign law not required). Nor do the Federal Rules of Evidence and its hearsay rules apply to foreign law materials, much as legal research on domestic law cannot trigger evidentiary objections. See de Fontbrune, 838 F.3d at 999.

 

 

 

 

(U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, March 13, 2023, Radu v. Johnson Shon, Docket No. 22-16316, For Publication)