The defendants brought a motion requiring the plaintiff to produce English-language translations of German-language documents listed in its Affidavit of Documents prior to examinations for discovery.
The plaintiff argued there was no obligation to translate documents produced on discovery.
The court held that, by analogy to the rules regarding interpreters at oral examinations and the general principle of proportionality, the producing party has an obligation to provide translations of relevant foreign-language documents at the discovery stage so the opposing party can understand the case it has to meet.
The plaintiff was ordered to produce translations of the key German-language emails at its own expense.
