Seth Colchester v. Jewel Lazaro

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

SETH BASIL COLCHESTER, No. 21-35210 Petitioner-Appellee, D.C. No. v. 2:20-cv-1571-

JCC

JEWEL LAZARO,

Respondent-Appellant. OPINION

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington John C. Coughenour, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted August 31, 2021 Seattle, Washington

Filed October 22, 2021

Before: A. Wallace Tashima and Ronald M. Gould, Circuit Judges, and Jed S. Rakoff, * District Judge.

Opinion by Judge Rakoff

* The Honorable Jed S. Rakoff, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation. SUMMARY **

Hague Convention

The panel (1) vacated the district court’s order, after a bench trial, granting a petition for the return of a child under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and (2) remanded for appointment of a psychologist and a new trial.

The child’s father sought the return of the child to Spain. The mother argued that returning the child to her father, who she alleged…