Indian Legal Services Company Moves to Dismiss Anti-Outsourcing Lawsuit

Newman McIntosh & Hennessy v. Bush, Civ. No. 08-00787 (CKK) (D.D.C.)

This lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief in order to gain certainty about whether the electronic transmission of data from the United States to a foreign legal services provider waives Fourth Amendment protection with respect to the data that is electronically transmitted.  See our original post about the lawsuit here, which includes a link to the Amended Complaint.

Acumen Legal Services, the India-based legal services company named as a defendant in the case, has now filed a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter and personal jurisdiction.  In the motion, Acumen argues:

NMH’s requested declaratory and injunctive relief, in addition to having no legal or factual justification, would reach far beyond NMH’s obviously intended target, namely, low-cost foreign legal outsourcing companies, which NMH apparently perceives as competition.  The requested relief could have a substantial adverse effect on the operations of all U.S. law firms that have foreign offices, and all U.S. corporations that need to use foreign counsel to transact business abroad.  NMH’s requested ruling that any foreign electronic transmission of data between clients and attorneys, or between attorneys, constitutes a waiver of constitutional rights and discovery privileges, would amount to an untenable and unwarranted interference with global commerce.

Moreover, NMH’s request for an order requiring all attorneys in the United States, not excluding in-house counsel, (a) to search for every instance in which they ever transmitted any kind of data to any foreign national, and (b) to send a notification regarding the same in every case, presumably to the owner of the data, would amount to one of the most onerous and unjustified burdens ever imposed by any court in a civil proceeding.

A copy of Acumen’s motion to dismiss is available here.

A press release issued by Acumen is available here.