## Facts

- Hay Group, Inc. and its former employee, David Hoffrichter, entered a separation agreement containing a one-year nonsolicitation clause and an arbitration clause.
- Hoffrichter left Hay and joined PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC); the relevant PwC division was later acquired by E.B.S. Acquisition Corp. (EBS).
- Hay initiated an arbitration in Philadelphia against Hoffrichter, alleging breach of the nonsolicitation clause.
- To prepare for the arbitration, Hay served subpoenas on non-parties PwC and EBS seeking production of documents before the arbitration hearing.
- PwC and EBS objected; the arbitration panel ordered compliance.
- After PwC and EBS refused, Hay petitioned the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to enforce the subpoenas.
- The district court enforced the subpoenas, concluding that Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) § 7 authorizes pre-hearing document subpoenas to non-parties; PwC and EBS appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether FAA § 7 authorizes arbitrators to subpoena non-parties for pre-hearing production of documents without summoning the non-parties to appear as witnesses before the arbitrators.
2. Whether a district court may enforce arbitral subpoenas for documents located outside the court’s territorial jurisdiction.

## Decision

- The Third Circuit reversed the district court’s enforcement order.
- FAA § 7 does not authorize arbitrators to compel non-parties to produce documents before a hearing.
- Arbitrators may compel a non-party to bring documents only when the non-party is summoned to appear as a witness before the arbitrators.
- Because the subpoenas were invalid under § 7, the court did not reach a definitive ruling on the territorial-jurisdiction enforcement question.

## Legal Principles

- FAA § 7 limits arbitral subpoena power over non-parties to summoning a person to attend as a witness and, in a proper case, to bring documents to that appearance.
- Courts may not create policy-based exceptions (e.g., “special need” or “hardship”) that expand arbitral subpoena authority beyond the statute’s text.
- Pre-hearing, discovery-style document production from non-parties is not authorized by FAA § 7 absent the non-party’s compelled attendance before the arbitrators.

## Conclusion

The Third Circuit held that FAA § 7 permits arbitrators to require non-parties to produce documents only in connection with an in-person appearance as a witness before the arbitrators, and therefore pre-hearing document subpoenas directed to non-parties are unenforceable.


Hay Grp., Inc. v. E.B.S. Acquisition Corp., 360 F.3d 404 (3d Cir. 2004)