United States First Circuit

Where there was significant evidence of sexual abuse by father, the district court erred in deferring its responsibility to foreign court, under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, for a determination of whether there was a grave risk of injury if children were returned to home country.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/03/2002
• Published 04/03/2002

Judges

• LYNCH, Circuit Judge., Before LYNCH, Circuit Judge, CAMPBELL and BOWNES, Senior Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Elizabeth B. Burnett with whom Beth I.Z. Boland, Jennifer Sulla, Francine Wachtmann, Meredith Brand Wade, and Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. were on brief for appellant., Barbara F. Berenson, Assistant Attorney General, Thomas F. Reilly, Attorney General, and Deepa S. Isac, Assistant Attorney General, on brief for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, amicus curiae., Barry S. Pollack, Anthony L. Bolzan, Amber R. Anderson, and Dechert Price & Rhoads on brief for Leadership Council for Mental Health, Justice, & the Media, Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Community Legal Services and Counseling Center, Children's Law Center of Massachusetts, Inc., Gloucester Men Against Domestic Abuse, and Emerge, Inc., amici curiae., Nora Sjoblom Sanchez and Pauline Quirion on brief for Massachusetts Citizens for Children, Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts, Greater Boston Legal Services, Jane Doe Inc., Domestic Violence Council, Inc., and Rebecca M. Bolen, amici curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• Stephen J. Cullen with whom Mary A. Azzarito, Nancy J. Baskin, and Miles & Stockbridge, P.C. were on brief for appellee.