Eidem v. Eidem

382 F. Supp. 3d 285
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedApril 29, 2019
DocketNo. 18-cv-6153 (RJS)
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 382 F. Supp. 3d 285 (Eidem v. Eidem) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eidem v. Eidem, 382 F. Supp. 3d 285 (S.D. Ill. 2019).

Opinion

RICHARD J. SULLIVAN, UNITED STATES CIRCUIT JUDGE, Sitting by Designation *287Petitioner Per Magne Eidem ("Petitioner") brings this action pursuant to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction ("Hague Convention"), Oct. 25, 1980, T.I.A.S. No. 11,670, seeking an order directing the return of his two sons to Norway. The children are currently in the care of their mother, Dana Marie Eidem ("Respondent"), in New York. On October 9, 2018, the Court held a hearing in this matter. For the reasons set forth below, Petitioner's application for relief under the Hague Convention is GRANTED.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Findings of Fact1

Petitioner is a Norwegian citizen who was born and raised in Norway. (PTO ¶ 1.) Respondent, a dual citizen of the United States and Norway, was born in Brooklyn, New York, but moved to Norway with her mother in 1993 at the age of eight. (Id. ¶¶ 2-3.) The parties met in 2004, moved in together in 2005, and married on June 9, 2008. (Id. ¶ 4; Decl. of Per Magne Eidem, dated Sept. 25, 2018 ("Pet. Decl.") ¶ 10.) The parties lived together in Elnesvågen, Norway from 2005 until 2013. (PTO ¶ 4.)

The parties had their first child, T.E., on August 25, 2008. (Id. ¶ 9.) Shortly after his birth, T.E. was diagnosed with Hirschsprung's disease, a condition wherein nerves are missing from parts of the intestine, and he underwent a "pull-through" surgery at a hospital in Trondheim to remove part of his colon. (Id. ¶¶ 10, 15; Decl. of Dr. Harpreet Pall, dated Sept. 26, 2018 ("Pall Decl.") ¶¶ 17-18.) The Trondheim hospital, located four hours by car from Elnesvågen, is one of two hospitals in Norway capable of performing a pull-through surgery. (PTO ¶ 11; Tr. 46:12-15.) The parties had their second child, N.E., on December 8, 2010. (PTO ¶ 12.) From a young age, N.E. has had difficulties with verbal skills. (Id. ¶ 13.)

On June 24, 2013, Respondent filed for separation, and the parties were legally divorced in 2014. (Id. ¶¶ 16, 17; Pet. Decl. ¶ 11.) Following their divorce, the parties entered into a visitation agreement providing for joint custody over the children. (PTO ¶ 19.) Specifically, the agreement explains that the children's "permanent place of abode" would be with Respondent, but that Petitioner would have custody over the children every other Wednesday and Thursday, every other weekend from Friday to Monday, and every other year for several holidays. (Id. ) During the summer of 2016, Petitioner signed a letter of parental consent allowing Respondent to travel to the United States with the children for a one-year period. (Id. ¶ 21.) The parties agreed that Respondent would return the children to Norway before the beginning of the Norwegian school term in August of 2017. (Pet. Decl. ¶ 15.) Before leaving for the United States with Respondent in 2016, the children had never visited the United States or otherwise traveled outside of Norway, except to visit Sweden. (Id. ¶ 10.)

*288Petitioner came to New York to visit the children in December 2016 around Christmas. (PTO ¶ 22.) He also kept in regular contact with the children via Skype. (Pet. Decl. ¶ 21.) And as early as January of 2017, Petitioner began coordinating the children's return to Norway with Respondent. (Id. ¶ 20.) By April of 2017, however, Respondent had decided that she was going to stay in New York with the children. (Decl. of Dana Marie Eidem, dated Sept. 26, 2018 ("R. Decl") ¶ 79.) Nevertheless, she lied to Petitioner and told him that she had purchased airline tickets for the children to return to Norway on August 8, 2017. (Pet. Decl. ¶ 20; Tr. at 223-25.) As a result, on August 8, 2017, Petitioner went with his father to the Molde Airport to meet the children. (Pet. Decl. ¶ 20.) After the flight landed and Petitioner realized that the children were not actually on board, he reached out to Respondent, who admitted that she had lied about purchasing airline tickets and explained that she was going to keep the children in the United States. (Id. ; Tr. at 226:20-24.) Respondent then cut off all contact between Petitioner and the children. (Pet. Decl. ¶ 21.) Although Petitioner tried calling at least a dozen times, Respondent never answered. (Id. ; Tr. 57:14-24.)

B. Procedural History

Petitioner initiated this action on July 6, 2018 by filing a petition for the return of the children to Norway pursuant to the Hague Convention and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act ("ICARA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 9001 -9011. (Doc. No. 1 (the "Petition").) Respondent filed her response pro se on August 6, 2018. (Doc. No. 7.) The following week, Respondent retained pro bono counsel from the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, upon a referral from the New York Legal Assistance Group. (Doc. Nos. 15-17.)

The parties engaged in limited discovery and filed submissions in advance of an evidentiary hearing, including pretrial memoranda, affidavits, stipulations of fact, and witness declarations. (See, e.g. , PTO; Doc. No. 28.) The Court conducted the hearing on October 9, 2018, at which it heard testimony from Petitioner; Petitioner's Norwegian Attorney, Halvor Hjelm-Hansen; Respondent's mother, Josephine Gjendem; Dr. Roger A. Rahtz, M.D., a psychiatric evaluator; Dr. Harpreet Pall, M.D., a pediatric gastroenterologist; and Respondent. Although the Court did not receive any testimony from the children and there was no other reason for the children to attend, Respondent nevertheless brought the children to the hearing.2 (Id. at 7:10.) Given Respondent's history of consistently bringing the children to proceedings in this matter, the Court expressed concern that Respondent was using the children to bolster her arguments regarding the traumatic effect of the litigation on them. (E.g. , id. at 7:13-8:11.) Respondent, however, testified that she had no choice but to bring the children to the hearing after a babysitter had unexpectedly canceled on her that morning. (Id. at 195:3-12.) Respondent further testified that she could provide the Court with text messages from the babysitter to corroborate her testimony. (Id. at 196:13-18.) The Court ordered Respondent to submit a letter supporting her assertions about the babysitter, with copies of the text messages, within the week. (Id. at 249:15-250:17.)

Later that week, Quinn Emanuel notified the Court of its intention to move to withdraw as Respondent's counsel. (Doc.

*289No. 51.) The Court then held an ex parte hearing on October 17, 2018, at which Respondent admitted that she had perjured herself at the October 9 hearing. (Tr. of Oct.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
382 F. Supp. 3d 285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eidem-v-eidem-ilsd-2019.