Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/63/217/613850/
Timestamp: 2020-03-30 02:16:44
Document Index: 6520324

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 11601', '§ 11601', '§ 11601', '§ 111', '§ 11603', '§ 63', '§ 11607', '§ 11601', '§ 63', '§ 63']

Edward M. Feder, Appellant, v. Melissa Ann Evans-feder, 63 F.3d 217 (3d Cir. 1995) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Third Circuit › 1995 › Edward M. Feder, Appellant, v. Melissa Ann Evans-feder
Edward M. Feder, Appellant, v. Melissa Ann Evans-feder, 63 F.3d 217 (3d Cir. 1995)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit - 63 F.3d 217 (3d Cir. 1995) Argued June 27, 1995. Decided Aug. 8, 1995. Rehearing and Rehearing In Banc DeniedAug. 24, 1995
On October 14, 1994, the district court conducted an evidentiary hearing and on October 31, 1994, issued an opinion and order denying Mr. Feder's petition. Feder v. Evans-Feder, 866 F. Supp. 860 (E.D. Pa. 1994). Concluding that Mr. Feder failed to prove that "Evan's habitual residence in the United States as of January 8, 1994 had changed to Australia by the time Mrs. Feder refused to return him from Pennsylvania in the summer of 1994 [,]" the court held that "the habitual residence of Charles Evan Feder is in the United States and that his mother has not wrongfully retained him here." Id. at 868. The court's holding was based on the view that although "Mr. Feder may have considered and even established Australia as his habitual residence by June of 1994 ..., Mrs. Feder assuredly did not [,]" as "she never developed a settled purpose to remain [there]." Id. Because of its decision regarding Evan's habitual residence, the court did not reach the merits of Mrs. Feder's claim that Evan's return to Australia would place him at risk. Id. This appeal followed.
The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction reflects a universal concern about the harm done to children by parental kidnapping and a strong desire among the Contracting States to implement an effective deterrent to such behavior. Hague Convention, Preamble; 42 U.S.C. § 11601(a) (1)-(4). Both the United States and Australia are signatory nations. The United States Congress implemented the Convention in the International Child Abduction Remedies Act, 42 U.S.C. § 11601 et seq., expressly recognizing its "international character" and the "need for uniform international interpretation" of its provisions. 42 U.S.C. § 11601(b) (2), (3) (B). In Australia, the Convention was implemented by the Family Law (Child Abduction Convention) Regulations made pursuant to § 111B of the Family Law Act 1975.
The Convention's approach to the phenomenon of international child abduction is straightforward. It is designed to restore the "factual" status quo which is unilaterally altered when a parent abducts a child and aims to protect the legal custody rights of the non-abducting parent.5 Pub. Notice 957, 51 Fed.Reg. 10494, 10505 (1986). Thus, the cornerstone of the Convention is the mandated return of the child to his or her circumstances prior to the abduction if one parent's removal of the child from or retention in a Contracting State has violated the custody rights of the other, and is, therefore, "wrongful". Hague Convention, Article 12.6 The general rule of return, however, has exceptions. If, for example, "there is a grave risk that [a child's] return would expose the child to physical or psychological harm or otherwise place the child in an intolerable situation [,]" return is not mandatory. Hague Convention, Article 13b.
For purposes of the Convention, " 'rights of custody' shall include rights relating to the care of the person of the child and, in particular, the right to determine the child's place of residence [.]" Hague Convention, Article 5a. The conflict of laws rules as well as the internal law of the child's habitual residence apply in determining a parent's custody rights. Elisa Perez-Vera, Explanatory Report by Elisa Perez-Vera, in 3 Actes et documents de la Quatorzieme session 426, 445-46 (1982).7 If a child's habitual residence is a State which has more than one territorial unit, the custody rights laws of the territorial unit apply. Hague Convention, Article 31.8
Pursuant to the International Child Abduction Remedies Act, state and federal district courts have concurrent original jurisdiction of actions arising under the Convention. 42 U.S.C. § 11603(a). Any person seeking the return of a child under the Convention may commence a civil action by filing a petition in a court where the child is located. Id. Sec. 11603(b). The petitioner bears the burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the removal or retention was wrongful under Article 3; the respondent must show by clear and convincing evidence that one of Article 13's exceptions apply. Id. Sec. 11603(e) (1) (A), (2) (A).
In Friedrich v. Friedrich, 983 F.2d 1396 (6th Cir. 1993), a German father filed a petition for the return of his son, Thomas, alleging that Thomas' mother, a citizen of the United States and a member of the United States Army stationed in Bad Aibling, Germany, had wrongfully removed the child from Germany, where the family lived, to Ironton, Ohio. A few days before Mrs. Friedrich left Germany with Thomas, Mr. Friedrich had forced his wife and child from the family's apartment and Mrs. Friedrich had assumed the role of Thomas' primary caretaker. Emphasizing her caretaking role and intentions to return eventually to the United States with Thomas, Mrs. Friedrich argued that Thomas' habitual residence had shifted from Germany to the United States. The court, however, held that Germany was Thomas' habitual residence. Focusing on the child, "look [ing] back in time, not forward [,]" and finding any future intentions that Mrs. Friedrich had harbored for Thomas to reside in the United States irrelevant to its inquiry, the court concluded that Thomas' habitual residence could be " 'altered' only by a change in geography [which must occur before the questionable removal] and the passage of time, not by changes in parental affection and responsibility." Id. at 1401-02.10
In her petition, the mother alleged that Tatjana's habitual residence was New York and that her rights of parental guardianship under New York law had been breached by the child's removal. In deciding the question of habitual residence, the court initially observed that the concept is fluid, fact-infused and largely free from technical rules and presumptions, id. slip op. at 9,11 and recognized that although " [t]he residence whose habituality has to be established is that of the child [,] [i]n the case of a child as young as Tatjana, the conduct and the overtly stated intentions and agreements of the parents during the period preceding the act of abduction are bound to be important factors and it would be unrealistic to exclude them". Id. slip op. at 10.
Applying this principle to the facts, the court concluded that because New York had acquired a "sufficient degree of continuity to enable it properly to be described as settled [,]" it was Tatjana's habitual residence within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention:
We thus disagree with the district court's conclusion that the United States, not Australia, was Evan's habitual residence and with its analysis of the issue in several respects. In rejecting Australia, the court placed undue emphasis on the fact that the majority of Evan's years had been spent in the United States, ignoring the approximately six months that Evan lived in Australia immediately preceding his return to the United States and the circumstances of his life in Australia. Moreover, the court disregarded the present, shared intentions of both Mr. and Mrs. Feder with regard to Evan's stay in Australia, focusing instead on Mrs. Feder exclusively and on the facts which indicated that she did not intend to remain in Australia if her marriage ended at some future date.13 Finally, we find the court's reliance on In re Application of Ponath, 829 F. Supp. 363 (D. Utah 1983), where the court found that a child was habitually resident in the United States as alleged by the respondent-mother, not in Germany as alleged by the petitioner-father, misplaced. There, what began as a voluntary visit to the father's family in Germany by the mother and child, both of whom resided in the United States, turned into "coerced residence" by virtue of the verbal, emotional and physical abuse that the father successfully used to prevent his wife's and child's return to the United States. Id. at 368. Such is clearly not the case here.
With regard to Mr. Feder's custody rights under Australian law, we recall that the Convention calls into play a State's choice of law rules as well as its internal custody rights laws. See supra p. 221. We must, therefore, initially determine what law Australia would apply in this case. Among the documents included in the minutes of the discussions of the Fourteenth Session of The Hague Conference are a "Questionnaire on international child abduction by one parent", and the "Replies of the Governments to the Questionnaire". 3 Actes et documents de la Quatorzieme session 9, 9-11, 61, 61-129 (1982) ["Convention Documents"]. Australia's reply to questions 17 and 18, which ask respectively " [w]hat are your choice-of-law rules in child custody cases?" and " [a]re there any norms of constitutional or other fundamental law in your country which would override the usual choice-of-law rules in custody cases?", Convention Documents at 11, provides in pertinent part that Australian courts apply Australia's Family Law Act 1975 to custody questions:
Thus, Mr. Feder's custody rights are determined by Australia's Family Law Act 1975, of which we may "take notice directly ... without recourse to the specific procedures for the proof of that law...." Hague Convention, Article 14.16 Under the Act, in the absence of any orders of court, each parent is a joint guardian and a joint custodian of the child,17 and guardianship and custody rights involve essentially the right to have and make decisions concerning daily care and control of the child.18 Family Law Act 1975 § 63(E) (1)-(2), (F) (1). See also Hague Convention, Article 5a.
Finally, Mr. Feder has requested fees and costs. Section 11607(b) (3) of the International Child Abduction Remedies Act requires any court ordering the return of a child under the Convention to award fees and costs to the petitioner unless the respondent establishes that such order would be "clearly inappropriate". 42 U.S.C. § 11607(b) (3). In the event that Mr. Feder ultimately prevails on remand, the district court should also consider and decide this issue.
The U.S. Senate ratified the 1980 Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction ("the Convention") and enacted supplementary implementing legislation, the International Child Abduction Remedies Act of 1988, 42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 11601 et seq. (West 1995) ("ICARA" or "the Act"), only recently, and thus reported cases pursuant to the Convention are relatively scarce. Although three appellate decisions have reviewed ICARA petitions disposed of after an evidentiary hearing, none has enunciated an explicit standard of review. See Prevot v. Prevot (In re Prevot), 59 F.3d 556 (6th Cir. 1995); Rydder v. Rydder, 49 F.3d 369 (8th Cir. 1995); Friedrich v. Friedrich, 983 F.2d 1396 (6th Cir. 1993). Hence, ours is the first court of appeals in the nation to analyze the appropriate standard of review for determinations of "habitual residence," and we must tread carefully because of its immediate effect upon the residency of the child involved.
Preliminarily, I remark that federal and state courts1 have struggled over this precise issue, with some making findings of fact and others conclusions of law regarding a child's habitual residence. Compare Wanninger v. Wanninger, 850 F. Supp. 78, 81 (D. Mass. 1994) ("the court finds that the children were 'habitually resident' in Germany"); Meredith v. Meredith, 759 F. Supp. 1432, 1436 (D. Ariz. 1991) (habitual residence is finding of fact); David B. v. Helen O., 164 Misc.2d 566, 625 N.Y.S.2d 436, 438 ("the court's finding with respect to the habitual residence issue is dispositive") & 441 n. 3 (Fam.Ct.1995); Roszkowski v. Roszkowska, 644 A.2d 1150, 1157, 274 N.J.Super. 620, 634 (Ch.Div.1993); Cohen v. Cohen, 158 Misc.2d 1018, 1024, 602 N.Y.S.2d 994, 998 (Sup.Ct.1993) (habitual residence is "factual determination"); with Prevot v. Prevot (In re Prevot), 855 F. Supp. 915, 920 (W.D. Tenn. 1994) (habitual residence is conclusion of law), rev'd on other grounds, 59 F.3d 556 (6th Cir. 1995); In re Ponath, 829 F. Supp. 363, 367 (D. Utah 1993); Slagenweit v. Slagenweit, 841 F. Supp. 264, 269 (N.D. Iowa 1993), appeal dismissed without op., 43 F.3d 1476 (8th Cir. 1994); Falls v. Downie, 871 F. Supp. 100, 102 (D. Mass. 1994). Encompassing all, the district court here wrote that it "finds and concludes that the habitual residence of Charles Evan Feder is in the United States." Feder v. Evans-Feder, 866 F. Supp. 860, 868 (E.D. Pa. 1994) (emphasis added).2
Elisa Perez-Vera, "Report of the Special Commission," Conference de La Haye de droit international prive: Actes et documents de la Quatorzieme session, Vol. III, Child Abduction, p 60 at 189 (emphasis added). Examination of a treaty's negotiating history is appropriate where the plain language itself is unclear. See Sale v. Haitian Ctrs. Council, --- U.S. ----, ---- - ----, 113 S. Ct. 2549, 2565-67, 125 L. Ed. 2d 128 (1993). In this regard, analysis of negotiating history is akin to consideration of legislative history in a case of statutory construction. Accordingly, the official history's characterization of habitual residence as "a purely factual concept" is powerful evidence that its drafters intended a determination of habitual residence to be one of fact, not of law.
In re Bates, No. CA 122-89, slip op., High Court of Justice, Family Div'n Ct. Royal Courts of Justice, United Kingdom (1989), at 9 (quoting Dicey and Morris, The Conflict of Laws, at 166); Rydder, 49 F.3d at 373; Friedrich, 983 F.2d at 1401. See also Ponath, 829 F. Supp. at 365. "The intent is for the concept [habitual residence] to remain fluid and fact based, without becoming rigid." Levesque v. Levesque, 816 F. Supp. 662, 666 (D. Kan. 1993). Even the Bates decision, treated by the majority as authoritative, referred to a "finding of wrongful removal," Bates, slip op. at 9, which of course depends on a determination of habitual residence. Such descriptions are consistent with my conviction that habitual residence is a factual finding.
Third, very recently the Sixth Circuit has characterized the question of whether a parent is exercising his or her custodial rights as a "finding." Prevot, 59 F.3d at 560, n. 4. The actual exercise of custodial rights, like "habitual residence," is an element of a petitioner's proof that a removal or retention was "wrongful." See Convention, Article 3; 42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 11603(e) (1). I agree with the Sixth Circuit and perceive absolutely no reason to treat a determination of habitual residence, as required in Article 3(a), as a legal conclusion, but that of the actual exercise of custodial rights, as required in Article 3(b), as a factual finding.
Fourth, the Act's use of the phrase "establish by a preponderance of the evidence" to describe a petitioner's burden of proving wrongful removal from a place of habitual residence signals that habitual residence is a fact question. 42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 11603(e) (1).
Finally, the majority's treatment of habitual residence confuses "ultimate facts" with "mixed questions of fact and law." While an ultimate fact may depend on subsidiary findings of fact, it is nonetheless a factual finding and must be reviewed for clear error. Pullman-Standard, Div. of Pullman, Inc. v. Swint, 456 U.S. 273, 287, 102 S. Ct. 1781, 1789, 72 L. Ed. 2d 66 (1982). For example, the following determinations have been characterized as "ultimate facts" and reviewed for clear error: intentional discrimination, Pullman-Standard, 456 U.S. at 287, 102 S. Ct. at 1789; "more than minimal planning," United States v. Cianscewski, 894 F.2d 74, 83 (3d Cir. 1990); "equivalence" in a patent dispute, Interdynamics, Inc. v. Wolf, 698 F.2d 157, 176 n. 36 (3d Cir. 1982); and "a bankruptcy court's ultimate finding of fact," Bittner v. Borne Chemical Co., 691 F.2d 134, 138 (3d Cir. 1982). To scrutinize ultimate facts by a standard less deferential than that of clear error is "untenable," American Home Products Corp. v. Barr Laboratories, Inc., 834 F.2d 368, 371 (3d Cir. 1987), and to the extent our circuit once reviewed ultimate facts in part for legal mistake, "we were wrong." Martin v. Cooper Electric Supply Co., 940 F.2d 896, 908 n. 11 (3d Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 503 U.S. 936, 112 S. Ct. 1473, 117 L. Ed. 2d 617 (1992). Indeed, if the question of Evan's habitual residence had been submitted to a jury rather than a judge, I would doubt that we would set aside the same decision on the grounds that it was mandated as a matter of law.
Accordingly, I conclude that the determination of a child's habitual residence is best described as a factual finding. I would review the district court's ruling on Evan's habitual residence for clear error, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 52(a), and I would not disturb it unless left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake had been committed. Oberti v. Board of Educ., 995 F.2d 1204, 1220 (3d Cir. 1993). Even if I "might have come to different factual conclusions based on this record, [I] defer to the findings of the district court unless [I am] convinced that the record cannot support those findings." Id.
I agree with the majority opinion that "a child's habitual residence is the place where he or she has been physically present for an amount of time sufficient for acclimatization and which has a 'degree of settled purpose' from the child's perspective." Maj. Op. at 224. Yet, "the desires and actions of the parents cannot be ignored by the court in making that determination when the child was at the time of removal or retention an infant." Ponath, 829 F. Supp. at 367. Having reviewed the findings of the district court, however, I am not left with a "definite and firm conviction" that a mistake has been committed. Oberti, 995 F.2d at 1220. Therefore, I would affirm.
I believe the habitual residence determination requires a weighing of those facts which indicate a settled purpose to reside in one location or another, as well as those which suggest close ties to a particular community. As of January 8, 1994, the parties agreed that the scales tipped decisively in favor of Jenkintown as Evan's habitual residence. Maj. Op. at 220; Feder, 866 F. Supp. at 865. Yet as of this date, a number of the facts relied on by the majority had already been placed on the Sydney side of the balance. As of that date: (a) Mr. Feder had a settled purpose to live in Australia; (b) Mrs. Feder had agreed to go to Australia, with Evan but "without any commitment to remain there," Feder, 866 F. Supp. at 863; (c) Mr. Feder had purchased a home in Australia for the family; (d) the couple had put their Jenkintown home on the market; (e) the couple had sold many of their household possessions in Pennsylvania; and (f) Mrs. Feder and Evan had temporary immigration status to reside in Australia. Nonetheless, the parties agreed that these factors, alone or in sum, did not make Australia Evan's habitual residence, absent some dispositive subsequent conduct.
The question thus becomes, what if anything occurred in the subsequent five and one-half months sufficient to alter the balance? The district court carefully canvassed the evidence introduced at the hearing and determined that it was insufficient to alter the balance that existed before Mrs. Feder and Evan traveled to Sydney. The court observed that Mrs. Feder had obtained one day of employment, a single performance with the Sydney Opera, scheduled for thirteen months after her arrival; Evan attended pre-school part-time, enrolled in kindergarten for the upcoming year, and was placed on a waiting list for a private school; and Mrs. Feder and Evan had obtained Australian Medicare cards. Feder, 866 F. Supp. at 864. On the other hand, unlike her husband, Mrs. Feder declined to surrender her Pennsylvania driver's license or to obtain an Australian one. Nor did she or Evan submit to the physical examination necessary to acquire permanent immigration status in Sydney, or sign any papers in support of the application Mr. Feder filed on their behalf. Id. These events, all comparatively trivial, do not persuade me that the district court committed clear error. Rather, they seem to confirm that Mr. Feder always had a settled purpose to reside in Sydney, but Mrs. Feder arrived without a settled purpose to remain, and departed never having developed one. Nor do these events indicate anything about Evan's own intentions.
In the district court, Mr. Feder requested that "full faith and credit" be extended to the Judicial Registrar's declaration that Evan was a habitual resident of Australia. The court refused Mr. Feder's request. Feder v. Evans-Feder, 866 F. Supp. 860, 866 (E.D. Pa. 1994). This issue was not raised on appeal.
The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction does not settle custody disputes, stating that " [a] decision under this Convention concerning the return of the child shall not be taken to be a determination on the merits of any custody issue." Hague Convention, Article 19
Article 12 provides that " [w]here a child has been wrongfully removed or retained in terms of Article 3 ... the authority concerned shall order the return of the child forthwith." Hague Convention, Article 12. The Convention does not require that a child be returned to his or her habitual residence, although in the classic abduction case, this occurs. Where a prevailing party has moved from the child's habitual residence, the child is returned to that party, wherever he or she may be. Pub.Notice 957, 51 Fed.Reg. at 10511
In the United States, the law in force in the state in which the child was habitually resident (as possibly preempted by the International Child Abduction Remedies Act, 42 U.S.C. § 11601 et seq.) would apply to determine whether a removal or retention was wrongful. Pub.Notice 957, 51 Fed.Reg. at 10506
Unlike the dissent, we believe that the determination of habitual residence is not purely factual, but requires the application of a legal standard, which defines the concept of habitual residence, to historical and narrative facts. It is, therefore, a conclusion of law or at least a determination of a mixed question of law and fact. Universal Minerals, Inc. v. C.A. Hughes & Co., 669 F.2d 98, 102-03 (3d Cir. 1981). On such questions we employ a mixed standard of review, accepting the district court's historical or narrative facts unless they are clearly erroneous, but exercising plenary review of the court's choice of and interpretation of legal precepts and its application of those precepts to the facts. Id
Having determined that Germany was Thomas' habitual residence, the Court of Appeals remanded the case to the district court with instructions to determine whether any of Mr. Friedrich's actions had terminated his custody rights under German law and whether any of the exceptions to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction general rule of return applied. Friedrich v. Friedrich, 983 F.2d 1396, 1403 (6th Cir. 1993)
In Rydder v. Rydder, 49 F.3d 369 (8th Cir. 1995), a case arising under the Convention, the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit was guided by this observation from Re Bates, No. CA 122-89, High Court of Justice, Family Div'l Ct. Royal Courts of Justice, United Kingdom (1989), in affirming the district court's treatment of the children's Swedish residence registration as a legal fiction of little consequence to the determination of their habitual residence. Rydder, 49 F.3d at 373
In reply to question 9 of the "Questionnaire on international child abduction by one parent", " [w]hat bases do your courts use for assuming jurisdiction in child custody cases?", 3 Actes et documents de la Quatorzieme session 9, 10 (1982) ["Convention Documents"], Australia stated that under the Family Law Act 1975, such proceedings may be instituted if either party to the marriage is an Australian citizen or either party to, or the child of, the marriage is present in Australia. Convention Documents at 64
Section 63(F) (1) states:
Family Law Act 1975 § 63(F) (1).
Family Law Act 1975 § 63(E) (1), (2).
I add a note to endorse the majority's suggestion that, in the event the district court determines a return order would pose no "grave risk" to Evan but would nonetheless be detrimental to him, the court may evaluate the adequacy of undertakings offered by Mr. Feder. Maj. Op. at 226. The "permissible involvement" of a court deciding a petition "extends beyond bluntly saying that there shall be a return or that there shall not. The court can influence the outcome by making clear that without undertakings, or with only the undertakings that are offered. Art [icle] 13(b) will apply, but that further or other undertakings are a prerequisite for a child's return." Re O, 2 FLR 349 (U.K.Fam.Div.1994). The district court may, for example, require Mr. Feder to pay for mother and child to fly back to Sydney, permit them to live at the former matrimonial home while he lives elsewhere, and provide them with a car and living expenses. Id. The district court may also need to investigate whether undertakings offered in the United States would be binding and enforceable in Australia, if their implementation is necessary to avoid "grave risk" to the child returned. See id