Merchan Rocha v. Molano Florez

Filing 26

ORDER that 19 the Motion for New Trial and 24 and 25 the Countermotions for Attorney's Fees are DENIED. FURTHER ORDERED that a Hearing on the Motion for Contempt (ECF No. 18 ) shall be held at 1:30 p.m. PDT on March 13, 2014 in Courtroom 4B of the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse in Las Vegas, Nevada. Signed by Judge Robert C. Jones on 3/4/14. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - MMM)

Download PDF
1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 6 FRANCISCO JOSE MERCHAN ROCHA, 7 Petitioner, 8 vs. 9 VERONICA MERANO FLOREZ, 10 Respondent. 11 12 ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) 2:14-cv-00051-RCJ-VCF ORDER This is a Petition under the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child 13 Abduction, done at The Hague on October 25, 1980 (the “Convention”) and the United States’ 14 enabling law, the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (the “Act”). Pending before the 15 Court are a Motion for Contempt (ECF No. 18), a Motion for New Trial (ECF No. 19), and two 16 Countermotions for Attorney’s Fees (ECF Nos. 24, 25). For the reasons given herein, the Court 17 denies the Motion for New Trial and the Countermotions for Attorney’s Fees but will hold a 18 hearing on the Motion for Contempt before ruling. 19 I. 20 FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Petitioner Francisco Jose Merchan Rocha and Respondent Veronica Molano Florez are 21 the natural parents of a minor child, SMM, who was eleven years old as of the filing of the 22 Verified Petition. (See V. Pet. ¶ 8, Jan. 10, 2014, ECF No. 1). On June 28, 2011, the parties 23 divorced in Colombia, and a copy of the Decree of Divorce (the “Decree”) is attached to the 24 Verified Petition as Exhibit B. (See id.). According to the Decree and the Parenting Agreement, 25 attached to the Verified Petition as Exhibit C, the Family Court of Usaquen, Colombia granted 1 Petitioner custody of SMM by agreement, with SMM’s habitual residence established in Bogota, 2 Colombia, and it granted Respondent certain visitation rights. (See id. ¶¶ 9, 10 & Exs. B, C). 3 Petitioner authorized SMM to travel to Miami, Florida with her paternal grandparents, and to 4 continue therefrom to Las Vegas, Nevada to visit Respondent, to return to Colombia on August 5 15, 2013 to continue her studies in Medillin, Colombia, where she had been residing and 6 attending school at the time she left Colombia. (See id. ¶ 11 & Ex. D). When Respondent 7 refused to return the child, Petitioner filed a police report in Colombia on August 22, 2013. (Id. 8 ¶ 13 & Ex. E). Petitioner attempted to convince Respondent to return the child, but Respondent 9 refused and has ceased all contact with Petitioner. (Id.). The Central Authority of Colombia 10 submitted Petitioner’s Application for Return of Child to the U.S. Department of State on 11 September 19, 2013. (Id. ¶ 14 & Ex. F). 12 Petitioner sued in this Court pursuant to the Convention and the Act for return of the 13 wrongfully retained child. He asked for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary 14 injunction. The Court restrained Respondent or others acting in conjunction with her or at her 15 direction from removing or permitting SMM to be removed from the State of Nevada until a 16 consolidated trial on the merits could be held under Rule 65(a)(2). At the conclusion of the 17 February 12, 2014 trial, at which SMM was present with the parties and their counsel, the Court 18 ruled in favor of Petitioner, entered its findings of fact and conclusions of law into the record, 19 and asked Petitioner’s counsel to submit a proposed written form of judgment. The Court stayed 20 the judgment for six months to maintain the status quo while Respondent appealed in the present 21 case or sought relief from relevant family law orders in Colombia. Petitioner has filed motions 22 for a new trial and to hold Respondent and her husband in contempt based upon information 23 obtained and events occurring after the trial, respectively. Respondent has objected and has 24 moved for attorney’s fees for having to defend against Petitioner’s present motions. 25 /// Page 2 of 6 1 II. LEGAL STANDARDS 2 A. 3 After a non-jury trial, a movant may obtain a new trial “for any reason for which a New Trial 4 rehearing has heretofore been granted in a suit in equity in federal court.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 5 59(a)(1)(B). No obtain a new trial based on newly discovered evidence, “the movant must show 6 the evidence (1) existed at the time of the trial, (2) could not have been discovered through due 7 diligence, and (3) was ‘of such magnitude that production of it earlier would have been likely to 8 change the disposition of the case.’” Jones v. Aero/Chem Corp., 921 F.2d 875, 878 (9th Cir. 9 1990) (quoting Coastal Transfer Co. v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., 833 F.2d 208, 211 (9th Cir. 10 1987)). 11 B. 12 The Court’s civil contempt power is inherent. Cal. Dep't Soc. Servs. v. Leavitt, 523 F.3d Contempt 13 1025, 1033 (9th Cir. 2008) (citing Shillitani v. United States, 384 U.S. 364, 370 (1966)). 14 Whereas criminal contempt is a punishable crime which must be tried as such if it occurs outside 15 of the presence of the Court, see Hicks v. Feiock, 485 U.S. 624, 638–41 (1988), a court’s civil 16 contempt authority allows a court to remedy a violation of a specific order, either by 17 imprisonment or fines until the contemnor purges the contempt by complying with the Court’s 18 order. As opposed to criminal contempt, civil contempt may be proved by clear and convincing 19 evidence, and willfulness need not be shown. NLRB v. Blevins Popcorn Co., 659 F.2d 1173, 20 1183 (D.C. Cir. 1981). 21 C. 22 “Unless a federal statute, these rules, or a court order provides otherwise, costs—other Attorney’s Fees 23 than attorney's fees—should be allowed to the prevailing party.” Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 54(d)(1). An 24 award of attorney’s fees must rely on a statute or rule independent from Rule 54 itself. See Fed. 25 R. Civ. P. 54(d)(2)(B)(ii). Page 3 of 6 1 III. ANALYSIS 2 A. 3 Petitioner asks for a new trial under Rule 59(a)(1)(B) based upon newly discovered Motion for New Trial 4 evidence. Specifically, Petitioner alleges that when exiting through the lobby of the Lloyd D. 5 George Courthouse, Respondent’s husband, Sam, verbally insulted Petitioner and “came very 6 close to assaulting him physically,” all in front of SMM, resulting in that court security personnel 7 had to escort Sam from the building. During the altercation, SMM raised her arms to cover 8 Sam’s chest and screamed “No!” Petitioner has inferred form SMM’s reaction that “she might 9 be accustomed to holding Sam back when he is in a fit of anger, with the most likely scenario 10 being protecting her mother from Sam.” Petitioner argues that this is newly discovered evidence 11 of SMM’s true motivation for wanting to remain in the United States, as found by the Court after 12 trial. Specifically, Petitioner argues that this evidence tends to show that at least part of SMM’s 13 reason for wanting to remain in the Unites States is to protect her mother from Sam. 14 Respondent objects that this is not newly discovered”evidence under Rule 59, because the 15 event occurred after the trial. The Court disagrees with that objection. The evidence of SMM’s 16 motivation to remain in the United States is alleged to have existed before trial. Petitioner argues 17 only that the post-trial altercation is what alerted him to the existence of the evidence. That is in 18 fact the precise fact pattern—pre-trial existence and post-trial discovery—under which new 19 evidence is appropriately considered. However, the new evidence is weak and would not have 20 changed the disposition of the case. The motion is therefore denied. 21 B. 22 Petitioner argues that Respondent made no reasonable efforts to comply with the Court’s 23 order requiring Respondent to provide Petitioner with unsupervised visitation before he returned 24 to Colombia. Respondent objects that she made reasonable efforts. The parties agree only that 25 Petitioner was not able to visit SMM before returning to Colombia. The disagreement is over Motion for Contempt Page 4 of 6 1 whether Respondent made reasonable efforts to provide unsupervised visitation. The Court will 2 not attempt to sort this out from the pleadings but will hold a hearing at which Respondent shall 3 show cause why she should not be held in contempt for failing to provide visitation as ordered. 4 C. 5 The countermotions for fees are frivolous, and they are denied. Respondent identifies no Motions for Attorney’s Fees 6 statute or rule under which fees are sought. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d)(2)(B)(ii). Respondent 7 identifies only Rule “54(2) [sic]” itself, which does not provide any substantive right to fees but 8 only a process by which to vindicate a substantive right to fees existing in some other statute or 9 rule. MRO Commc’ns, Inc. v. AT&T, 197 F.3d 1276, 1280–81 (9th Cir. 1999). 10 Respondent implies that fees are allowed because she will prevail on the motion, but the 11 Court cannot think of any statute or rule from any jurisdiction that provides for motion-by- 12 motion fee shifting based purely on a party having prevailed on a motion. Respondent also 13 implies that fees are allowed because Petitioner’s motions were brought in “bad faith” and were 14 “vexatious.” That language implies that Respondent intends to invoke either Rule 11 or 28 15 U.S.C. § 1927. As to Rule 11, Respondent has not indicated that she served the present 16 countermotions upon Petitioner and waited twenty-one days thereafter before filing them, as 17 required by the rule, and judicially noticeable facts, i.e., the dates of the relevant filings, prove 18 that Respondent did not comply with this requirement. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(c)(2). In any case, 19 neither Petitioner nor his counsel have violated Rule 11 or § 1927. Neither of Petitioner’s 20 motions are frivolous or vexatious. 21 /// 22 /// 23 /// 24 /// 25 /// Page 5 of 6 1 2 3 4 CONCLUSION IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Motion for New Trial (ECF No. 19) and the Countermotions for Attorney’s Fees (ECF Nos. 24, 25) are DENIED. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a Hearing on the Motion for Contempt (ECF No. 18) 5 shall be held at 1:30 p.m. PDT on March 13, 2014 in Courtroom 4B of the Lloyd D. George 6 Federal Courthouse in Las Vegas, Nevada. 7 8 9 10 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated this 4th day of March, 2014. _____________________________________ ROBERT C. JONES United States District Judge 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Page 6 of 6

Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.


Why Is My Information Online?