Why Certified Document Translations are Important in Litigation
Courts Hold that Foreign Language Documents without Certified Translation and/or Translated by Google Translate Are Inadmissible
Certified document translation services play a very important role in litigation. The below cases are reminders of the importance of the certified legal translation of the multilingual evidence presented to a court. Courts will not consider evidence that is either translated by an app like Google Translate or not translated to English at all.
Chinese Documents with no Certified English Translation were Inadmissible in Employment Case
In Chen et al. v. Wai? Cafe and Wai Yin Chan, No. 10 Civ. 724 (JCF), 2016 WL 722185 (Feb. 19, 2016), the plaintiffs were employed as delivery persons with the defendant Wai? Cafe. They filed suit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that Wai? Cafe violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) by failing to pay the applicable minimum wage, overtime wage, and spread-of-hours premium. Wai? Cafe sought to have Plaintiff’s counsel sanctioned for allegedly perpetrating a fraud on the court. Wai? Cafe claimed that Plaintiff’s counsel had lied when he stated that a certain agreement had not been provided in discovery.
The document that Wai? Cafe attempted to introduce was an agreement written in Simplified Chinese, but it was not accompanied by a certified English translation. For this reason, the court held that it was reasonable that Plaintiff’s counsel did not recognize the document since the attorney was not able to read Chinese.
The court declined to sanction plaintiff’s attorney and noted “the well-established rule that a documents in a foreign language is generally inadmissible unless accompanied by a certified English translation.”
Italian Bank Statements with no Certified English Translation were Inadmissible in Breach of Contract Case
In Sicom SPA v. TRS, Inc. et al., 168 F.Supp.3d 698 (SDNY 2016), Sicom, an Italian company, filed suit against a company in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York for breach of contract after the NJ company ordered, but failed to pay for certain shipping containers.
Plaintiffs tried to introduce certain bank statements in Italian that were attached to certain declarations, which supported claims concerning the payments that had been made by the NJ company. Here, the court likewise held the documents were inadmissible in the case because they were in Italian and were not accompanied by a certified English translation.
Exhibits in Russian with No Certified English Translation Could Not Be Used at Trial
NV Petrus SA involved breach of contract claims and claims for violations of the New York Debtor and Creditor Law before the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Plaintiffs objected to the introduction of certain exhibits at trial that were in Russian with no English translation by a certified translator. The court again repeated the rule that such documents would be inadmissible and gave the plaintiffs a certain amount of time to provide a certified Russian to English translation.
Screenshots in Chinese with No Certified English Translation Could Not Be Considered by the Court
In re Advanced Battery Tech., Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 11 Civ. 2279(CM), 2012 WL 3758085 (Aug. 29, 2012) involved claims of false or misleading statements by certain officers of the company that induced plaintiffs to buy shares in the company and when the truth came out, the share price collapsed, causing Plaintiffs to suffer economic damage.
Plaintiffs attempted to introduce certain screenshots in Chinese that tended to dispel the notion that certain transactions involved fraud. The court held that it could not consider the screenshots because the defendants “failed to provide certified translations of the words that appear on [them].”
A Case Involving Allegations of Human Trafficking Against Tesla
Sasa Maslic v. ISM VUZEM DOO, No. 21-cv-02556-BLF, 2024 WL 3408217 (July 11, 2024), a recent case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California involves allegations of human trafficking at Tesla, Inc.’s facility in Fremont, California. The case highlights the importance of certified translations in legal proceedings, as individuals from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Slovenia, and Croatia claim they were brought to the United States under exploitative conditions. The lawsuit named various entities that were involved in the alleged exploitation. Some of the entities defaulted and most claims against Tesla were dismissed, however, there remained a human trafficking claim set for trial against Tesla.
What Led to the Human Trafficking Allegations
Maslic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with other plaintiffs, alleged that they were brought to the U.S. by a Bosnian company to provide cheap labor, violating wage, hour, and human trafficking laws. The lawsuit focuses on work at Tesla’s Fremont, California facility.
Maslic, who lost his possessions in the 2014 Bosnia floods, was hired by the Bosnian company without a formal agreement to work at BMW’s South Carolina facility. Maslic worked long hours and faced ethnic discrimination and threats. Despite this, he continued work due to a lack of job opportunities in Bosnia and family obligations. In September 2014, Maslic was sent to work at Tesla. He found the accommodations excellent but felt discriminated against and verbally abused at work. He also worked under unsafe conditions, suffering injuries that he alleged were not properly addressed.
Maslic worked seven assignments, mostly at Tesla. In his last assignment in 2016, he developed severe back and hip pain, leading to a diagnosis requiring hip replacement. The Bosnian company placed him on sick leave and then fired him, leaving him to cover his medical expenses. He later found a job driving trucks but had to stop due to his condition.
Maslic’s Motion to Admit Certain Translations from Bosnian to English is Denied
The complaint alleges human trafficking violations, claiming Tesla benefited from the Bosnian company’s actions. These claims were made under the state statute, the California Trafficking Victims Protection Act (CTPVA) and the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). In support of the claims, Maslic tried to have certain documents in the Bosnian language admitted as evidence. These Bosnian documents were submitted originally without English translation in his opposition to summary judgment.
The court made it clear that these Bosnian to English translations were not prepared by a certified translator. Instead the documents appeared to have been translated using the Google Translate app and in part by others. The court was clear – to be admissible, translations must be performed by a certified translator. Maslic’s motion to admit the documents was denied.
While the claims against Tesla involving the CTVPA were dismissed, the court allowed the TVPRA claim to move forward. The court noted that Maslic’s evidence was not robust, but it could provide a reasonable inference that Tesla was aware of the trafficking. Whether Maslic will be successful based on his proof, will be up to the jury to decide.
A Case Involving Allegations of Copyright Infringement
In Novelty Textile, Inc. v Windsor Fashions, Inc., No. 12-05602-DDP, 2013 WL 1164065 (Mar. 20, 2013), Novelty Textile, Inc. (“Novelty”), involved a company in the business of creating graphic artwork used on garments and textiles. Novelty alleged that Xtaren and Windsor Fashions, Inc. infringed on its copyright by selling or distributing textiles with a design similar to its copyrighted work. It is important to note that Xtaren is a member of the Korean American Manufacturers Association (“KAMA”). Novelty’s attorneys, the Law Offices of Jeong, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Windsor, whose legal counsel then demanded indemnification from Xtaren, attaching a copy of the letter. Jeong is also KAMA’s General Counsel.
The Meeting Between Xtaren and Attorney Jeong
Kim from Xtaren met with Jeong to discuss the indemnification request. Kim did not show Jeong the cease-and-desist letter but provided general details about the situation. Jeong advised Kim on settlement options and fees.
The question the court had to decide was whether or not Jeong should be disqualified as plaintiff’s counsel because there existed an attorney-client relationship between Xtaren and Jeong based on this meeting.
One way Xtaren attempted to show there existed an attorney-client relationship between it and Jeong was based on membership in KAMA. Xtaren tried to admit pages of the KAMA website in the Korean language to show the benefits it receives from KAMA membership, which includes free legal consulting services. However, the court noted that the webpages were translated using the Google Translate app and that such translations are unreliable and inadmissible.
The court noted the nonsensical information provided by the app’s translation from Korean and did not allow the Korean to English translation to be admitted. In any event, the fact that KAMA offered these services did not show that an attorney-client relationship between the parties existed. There had to be an actual communication regarding this issue.
As can be gleaned from the above cases, the importance of providing English translations by a certified translator when litigating a case cannot be understated.
Get in touch with All Language Alliance, Inc. to obtain certified translation of legal documents written in Simplified Chinese, French, Italian, Bosnian, German, Hungarian, Korean, Russian, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Polish, Greek, Thai, Amharic, and other foreign languages, and to retain a deposition interpreter for on-site or a Zoom deposition in any foreign language.
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