Hunton & Williams LLP Secures Virginia Supreme Court Ruling for Pro Bono Client in International Abduction Case

Washington, DC, November 5, 2008 — In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed decisions of the Court of Appeals of Virginia dismissing two appeals, with prejudice, because the appellant, a Mexican citizen living in Spain, is a "fugitive from justice." The October 31 decision, written by Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr. for a unanimous Court, accepted the reasoning of the Court of Appeals of Virginia that a party "cannot get relief from the same judicial system whose authority he evades."

Hunton & Williams LLP lawyers Stephen M. Sayers and Michael E. Kinney, who argued the case, have represented a mother, an Israeli and U.S. citizen, in a two-year appellate odyssey arising out of a case filed under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Circuit Court of Fairfax County ordered the child’s father to return the child to the United States from Spain. He refused. The Circuit Court found the father to be contempt of court and ordered his arrest. The Circuit Court also imposed a fine of $1,000 for each day he disobeyed the order. At the time the case was argued, the accrued amount of the fine was more than $630,000.

After the father filed two separate appeals, Hunton & Williams agreed to represent the mother pro bono publico. On August 21, 2007, the Court of Appeals granted motions to dismiss the two appeals on the basis of the father’s failure to comply with the Circuit Court's orders. In doing so, the Court of Appeals was the first to apply the "fugitive disentitlement doctrine" in Virginia State courts. According to this doctrine, an appellate court may decline to hear an appeal when one of the parties has fled the jurisdiction and refused to comply with an unfavorable judgment or order. The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the Court of Appeals decisions in all respects, and recognized the fugitive disentitlement doctrine as a fixture of Virginia law. In doing so, the Court sent a strong message to all litigants that they flout validly issued orders at their peril.

The Hague Convention has two stated objectives: to prevent international child abduction, and to secure the immediate reintegration of an abducted child into his or her place of habitual residence. Both the United States and Spain are signatories to the Hague Convention.