McKesson Corp. is an American health information technology firm that held an interest in Pak Dairy. After several decades of having left its share in Iran, the company rendered professional Persian translation services to translate documents it needed to file a lawsuit in the United States. McKesson’s legal representatives depended on Persian translation services to translate documents sketching out laws of Iran. They discovered that by Iranian and international laws Iranian officials were not allowed to seize McKesson Corp.’s share. Professional Persian translation proved to be an important factor in this lawsuit because it also allowed the Iranians to challenge how the courts originally calculated the compensatory damage.
Both parties’ legal representatives had to translate documents from Farsi to English and from English to Farsi for their own purposes as well as to present evidence to the courts. McKesson needed to show the court that its share was unlawfully seized back in 1979 while the Iranian side had to demonstrate that this American company had no legal right to hold Pak shares. Without professional Persian translation the American side could not have presented its case properly. It would lack evidence supporting its position, and the lawyers could not communicate with the Iranian defendants. Not just any translator could be appointed for this case. Documents recording a country’s laws are usually dense and the vocabulary is difficult to manage. Such translations are best performed by professionals. In a long-running lawsuit the company tried to recoup millions of dollars as compensation for its share in Pak. Initially the court added compound interest but then switched to simple interest in its calculations because Iranian laws do not recognize compound interest.
The lawyers representing Pak appealed the decision, pointing to the translated version of Iranian law. Professional translation for Persian provided support to the Iranians who insisted that the method Americans had used to figure out the amount was considered unlawful in Iran. McKesson left the country in 1979 because the Iranian government took control over the property. By reviewing several translated documents the court decided that the defendant has in fact breached the terms of an agreement that the US and Iran entered into. In 2012 the judge reversed the previous decision that was made in 2010 because there was no indication that Iranian law acknowledged compound interest. As a result, the Iranians paid less interest. When parties involved in a lawsuit need to submit documents written in Farsi to an American court, they need seek professional Persian translation. In this case the translations lowered McKesson’s award.
