Peyre v. McGarey

District Court, D. Arizona·Decided May 30, 2023·No. 2:23-cv-00350·Unknown

Opinion

Case 2:23-cv-00350-DWL Document 45 Filed 05/30/23 Page 1 of 37

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Charles Olivier Peyre, No. CV-23-00350-PHX-DWL 10 Petitioner, ORDER 11 v. 12 Catharine Bliss McGarey, 13 Respondent. 14 15 INTRODUCTION 16 The parties in this action are Charles Olivier Peyré (“Father”), who is a French

17 citizen, and Catharine Bliss McGarey (“Mother”), who is an American citizen. Father and 18 Mother met each other in 2017 when living in Ireland, then moved to France. While living

19 in France, Father and Mother got married and had twins (“the Children”).

20 On June 30, 2022, Mother flew to the United States with the Children while Father 21 remained in France. Much of the dispute in this case turns on the nature of that trip— 22 Mother contends it was part of an agreed-to plan for her to permanently relocate to the

23 United States with the Children as she and Father were considering whether to divorce,

24 while Father contends it was simply a summer vacation from which Mother and the

25 Children were expected to return. (See generally Doc. 23.)1

26 27 1 The abbreviation “Doc.” refers to where the cited document was filed as part of the docket. The abbreviation “Ex.” refers to the exhibit number during the evidentiary hearing. 28 The abbreviation “Tr.” refers to the page number of the hearing transcript, which appears at Docs. 38-44. Case 2:23-cv-00350-DWL Document 45 Filed 05/30/23 Page 2 of 37

1 In November 2022, Father filed a police report with French authorities accusing 2 Mother of wrongfully removing the Children from France. (Ex. 5, Bates 170-73.) The 3 following month, in December 2022, Father filed formal requests for assistance with the 4 French Ministry of Justice (Ex. 15) and the U.S. Central Authority (Ex. 16, Bates 324). 5 Finally, on February 27, 2023, Father initiated this action by filing a verified petition under 6 the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (“ICARA”), 22 U.S.C. § 9001 et seq., 7 which implements the provisions of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of 8 International Child Abduction. (Doc. 1.)2 As relief, Father seeks an order “establishing 9 that the Children shall be returned to France, where an appropriate custody determination 10 can [be] made by a French court under French law.” (Id. at 7.) Mother’s primary defenses 11 are that “Father consented and/or acquiesced to removal or retention of the Children from 12 France to Arizona” and that “the return of the Children would expose them to a grave risk 13 of harm based on Father’s domestic violence against Mother and serious abuse or neglect 14 against the Children.” (Doc. 15 at 5-6.) 15 Over the course of five trial days between May 1-12, 2023, the Court held an 16 evidentiary hearing. As explained below, although this is a close and difficult case, the 17 Court concludes that Father is entitled to relief under ICARA. Thus, Mother will be 18 required to return the Children to France. 19 FINDINGS OF FACT 20 I. Background Details 21 Mother is a citizen of the United States. (Doc. 23 at 1.) Mother was born and raised 22 in Arizona and moved to Ireland in December 2016. (Id.) While living in Ireland, Mother 23 met Father, who is a French citizen. (Id.) Mother and Father later moved to France to live 24 together. (Id.) 25 In July 2019, Mother and Father were married in France. (Id. at 2.) In 2021, the 26 Children were born in France. (Id. at 6, 8.) 27 2 See generally In re ICJ, 13 F.4th 753, 760 (9th Cir. 2021) (“The United States 28 ratified the Hague Convention in 1988, and Congress implemented the Convention through the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (‘ICARA’).”).

-2- Case 2:23-cv-00350-DWL Document 45 Filed 05/30/23 Page 3 of 37

1 Mother and Father jointly owned, along with their parents, a bar in France called 2 the Garage Bar. The Garage Bar is relevant because, as discussed in more detail below, 3 the parties’ plan to relocate to the United States was, at least at times, contingent on the 4 sale of the Garage Bar. 5 On November 30, 2021, Father applied for a visa to work in the United States. (Ex. 6 39.) 7 On May 24, 2022, Mother bought one-way tickets for herself, her sister, and the 8 Children to travel to the United States on June 30, 2022. (Ex. 40.) 9 On June 30, 2022, Mother and the Children took the flight as planned. They have 10 not since returned to France. 11 II. Pre-Departure Statements Concerning The Plan To Move To The United States 12 Ascertaining the nature of Mother’s trip to the United States on June 30, 2022 is 13 complicated because, although the parties repeatedly expressed plans to relocate to the 14 United States, the details of the plan shifted over time. It is therefore helpful to provide a 15 chronological account of the parties’ description of the plan in the months, weeks, and days 16 leading up to Mother’s departure with the Children. 17 In forming this chronology, the Court has largely focused on the plans and intentions 18 that the parties expressed in writing. During the evidentiary hearing, both parties also 19 sought to offer testimony and evidence about various purported oral admissions the other 20 party made. The Court found that testimony and evidence less helpful than the written 21 evidence, due to the lack of corroboration.3 22 23 3 For example, one of Father’s friends wrote in a declaration that Mother admitted to him during a conversation right before the June 30, 2022 flight “that she was home-sick 24 (the USA)” and “never said that she wanted to stay and live in the USA” and “always stated that she was going for the summer break.” (Ex. 21, Bates 354.) Meanwhile, Mother’s 25 father contends that Father admitted to him, during a vacation in London in April 2022, that Father knew Mother would be “moving to Phoenix with the kids” and confirmed that 26 Father “would be OK to remain in France during the time it took to sell the bar . . . . [Father] compared this arrangement to a military family with a dad out on tour.” (Ex. 50, Bates 27 151.) To be clear, the Court does not question to honesty of the witnesses who provided these (and similar) statements. However, it is difficult to make credibility judgments when 28 presented with conflicting, uncorroborated statements by fact witnesses who are, understandably, sympathetic to their friend’s or family member’s legal position.

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1 A. Father’s November 21, 2021 Email 2 With these clarifications in mind, the first relevant statement was made on 3 November 12, 2021, when Father wrote an email to Mother’s parents that included the 4 following passage: “I don’t know if Katie already told you that we are looking forward to 5 settle in Phoenix soon. We are talking about making it happen for June [20]22. You can 6 guess we will have a lot to discuss during that time!” (Ex. 31.) 7 From the Court’s perspective in its capacity as factfinder, this email does not assist 8 either side’s case. Although the projected arrival date of June 2022 might seem, at first 9 blush, to be helpful to Mother’s position (because that is when she ultimately traveled to 10 the United States with the Children), the email does not provide details about the planned 11 move and does not suggest that Mother and the Children would be leaving Father behind 12 in France. Thus, although the email confirms that, as of the fall of 2021, Mother and Father 13 had a general plan to relocate to the United States in June 2022, it sheds little light on what 14 they were thinking (and had agreed to) when Mother actually left on June 30, 2022.4 15 B.

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