In d'Amico Dry d.a.c. v. Nikka Finance, Inc., No. CA 18-0284-KD-MU (Adm. S.D. Ala. Oct. 19, 2018), the US District Court for the Southern District of Alabama determined that the privacy rights of European Union citizens and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) do not necessarily trump a US litigant's right to discovery.
The defendant, Nikka Finance, Inc., moved for a protective order to protect its 30(b)(6) witness from a videotaped deposition to take place in London, England. Among other arguments, Nikka asserted that the witness did not consent to, nor would he sign a release allowing, the videotaping of his deposition because a videotaped deposition would violate his rights to privacy under GDPR and the Data Protection Act (the UK's implementation of GDPR) and the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act. The court rejected Nikka's motion because it found that the foreign privacy laws on which Nikka relied are directed to the use of videotaped images of people who are unaware they are being videotaped. However, the court did order that the video recording of the deposition not be publicly disclosed or utilized in any other investigation or litigation.
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