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In Rigby v Damant 486 F.3d 692 (1st
Cir. 2007) petitioner sought to appeal from the district court's order
denying his motion for summary judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).
He contended that this court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. 1292(a)(1)
because the denial of the summary judgment motion was a denial of his
request for an injunction ordering the return of his child to Canada
pursuant to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International
Child Abduction (the Convention). The Circuit court disagreed and
dismissed the appeal. The Supreme Court has stated that "the denial of a
motion for a summary judgment because of unresolved issues of fact does
not settle or even tentatively decide anything about the merits of the
claim." Switzerland Cheese Assoc., Inc. v. E. Horne's Market, Inc., 385
U.S. 23, 25, 87 S.Ct. 193, 17 L.Ed.2d 23 (1966). Such a motion is merely
"a pretrial order that decides only one thing-that the case should go to
trial. Orders that in no way touch on the merits of the claim but only
relate to pretrial procedures are not 'interlocutory' within the meaning
of 1292(a)(1).
The Court added a coda. It noted that the
petitioner's central concern appeared to be that the district court's
rulings-denying summary judgment and granting the respondent's motion to
extend the time for completing discovery-seemed to him to be in conflict
with the Convention's directive that such cases be resolved
expeditiously. The Convention itself provides a means for petitioners to
raise a concern that the judicial authority is not proceeding
expeditiously enough. See Article 11(2). To the extent that the
petitioner also is concerned that he will be required to litigate
custody issues in a state court proceeding initiated by the respondent,
the Convention itself furnishes the answer. "[T]he Hague Convention
provides that any state court custody litigation be stayed pending the
outcome of the Hague Convention litigation." Yang v. Tsui, 416 F.3d 199,
203 (3d Cir.2005), cert. denied, 546 U.S. 1208, 126 S.Ct. 1419, 164
L.Ed.2d 116 (2006). The petitionerdid not allege that he requested and
been denied a stay in state court.
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