Didon v. Castillo

Filing 44

ORDER denying Didon's motion for attorney fees 37 . (See order for complete details.) Signed by Chief Judge Christopher C. Conner on 10/18/16. (ki)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
MAURICE MARIE DIDON,
Petitioner
v.
ALICIA DOMINGUEZ CASTILLO,
Defendant

:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:

CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:15-CV-1586
(Chief Judge Conner)

ORDER
AND NOW, this 18th day of October, 2016, upon consideration of the
mandate (Doc. 42) of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit,
issued contemporaneously with said court’s opinion (Doc. 42-1) and judgment (Doc.
41) on September 26, 2016, remanding the above-captioned matter to this court to
forthwith order the return of minor child A.D. to the United States, and wherein the
appellate court vacated this court’s judgment in partial favor of petitioner Maurice
Marie Didon (“Didon”) and dismissed Didon’s petition under the Hague Convention
on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“Hague Convention”), which
has been implemented into United States law by the International Child Abduction
Remedies Act (“ICARA”), 22 U.S.C. § 9001 et seq., and further upon consideration of
the motion (Doc. 37) of Didon’s former counsel for attorney fees pursuant to Section
9007 of the ICARA, wherein counsel requests that the court award $16,319.31 in fees
and costs against respondent Alicia Dominguez Castillo (“Castillo”), and the court
observing that Section 9007(b)(3) provides: “Any court ordering the return of a

child pursuant to an action brought under section 9003 of this title shall order the
respondent to pay necessary expenses incurred by or on behalf of the petitioner . . .
unless the respondent establishes that such order would be clearly inappropriate,”
22 U.S.C. § 9007(b)(3), and further observing that fee and cost awards are properly
denied when a court of appeals reverses a district court’s return order, see Chafin
v. Chafin, 568 U.S. __, 133 S. Ct. 1017, 1027 (2013); see also Fawcett v. McRoberts,
326 F.3d 491, 501 n.6 (4th Cir. 2003), abrogated on other grounds by Abbott v.
Abbott, 560 U.S. 1, 7, 20-22 (2010); In re Prevot, 59 F.3d 556, 558, 567 (6th Cir. 1995),
and the court concluding, in light of the Third Circuit’s vacatur of this court’s return
order and dismissal of Didon’s petition under the Hague Convention, that an award
of attorney fees and costs is not supported by Section 9007(b)(3), it is hereby
ORDERED that Didon’s motion (Doc. 37) for attorney fees is DENIED.

/S/ CHRISTOPHER C. CONNER
Christopher C. Conner, Chief Judge
United States District Court
Middle District of Pennsylvania