United States District Court 

for the 

Southern District of Florida 

In re Application of Mary Ann 

James de James de Holguín 

)

)

) Civil Action No. 20-23410-mc-Scola

Order on Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation 

This matter involves Mary Ann James de Holguín’s application for 

assistance with seeking discovery from Respondents Shuts & Bowen LLC and 

Maria del Pilar Rubio under 28 U.S.C § 1782. (App., ECF No. 1.) Magistrate 

Judge Edwin G. Torres has issued a report and recommendation concerning 

Mrs. James de Holguín’s application. (R&R, ECF No. 26.) 

The Respondents submitted no objections and Mrs. James de Holguín 

only objected to Judge Torres’ recommendation that the Court deny her 

petition. (Obj., ECF No. 27.) Having reviewed Mrs. James de Holguín’s 

objections, the record, relevant legal authorities, and Judge Torres’ report and 

recommendation, the Court adopts and affirms Judge Torres’ report in its 

totality. (ECF No. 26.) Accordingly, as set forth in Judge Torres’ report, the 

Court denies Mrs. James de Holguín’s application (ECF No. 1); partially 

grants the Respondents’ motion to strike (Mot., ECF No. 12); denies Mrs. 

James de Holguín’s motion for in camera review (ECF No. 14), and denies the 

Respondents’ cross-motion (ECF No. 20). 

The Court agrees with Judge Torres that “the only documents requested 

in the application appear to be related to the Florida Will, all of which are 

under the purview of the Florida courts.” (R&R 10.) To contest that finding, 

Mrs. James de Holguín provides a list of five requests that she says “are 

unrelated to the Florida Will or the MOU.” (Obj. 6.) The Court notes that these 

five requests are a subset of the nine Mrs. James de Holguín originally 

requested in her application. (See App. 5-6.) She does not indicate in her 

objections whether she purports to seek the other four document requests 

under 28 U.S.C. § 1782. In any event, the five requests that Mrs. James de 

Holguín says are “unrelated” to the will or MOU are: 

1. Any additional testamentary documents signed by the Decedent

disposing of his assets upon his death or additional documents

identifying his assets.

2. A copy of the Trust Agreement of the Frayle Trust and any other

trust documents relating to the Decedent.

3. All documents relating to the Decedent’s estate.

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4. Any communications between Mrs. Rubio and the Decedent

relating to the Decedent’s estate.

5. A sworn Affidavit of Authenticity referencing and exhibiting

documents produced in response to these requests and stating if

true that the documents exhibited thereto are true and complete

copies of the originals kept by the Discovery subjects.

(Obj. 5-6). Those fall flatly within the purview of the Florida litigation. 

To be sure, Florida Rules of Civil Procedure allow for discovery of any 

unprivileged matter “that is relevant to the subject matter of the pending 

action, whether it relates to the claim or defense of the party seeking discovery 

or the claim or defense of any other party[.]” Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.280(b)(1). As such, 

the standard in the Florida litigation is relevance to the claims and defenses 

involved—not relevance to the will and MOU per se. Even then, the above 

requests all appear to relate in some way to the Florida Will and the MOU. 

Mrs. James de Holguín makes no effort in her objections to convince the Court 

otherwise. She, for example, provides no explanation as to why her request for 

“[a]ll documents relating to the Decedent’s estate” is not within the purview of 

the Florida litigation. 

That the Respondents may object to Mrs. James de Holguín’s requests in 

the Florida proceedings is not relevant here for the reasons Judge Torres cites. 

(See R&R 9.) Should Mrs. James de Holguín learn of potential discovery that is 

related exclusively to the Colombian litigation, she may file another application 

under 28 U.S.C § 1782 with the Court.

Done and ordered at Miami, Florida on March 29, 2022. 

________________________________

Robert N. Scola, Jr. 

United States District Judge 

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