Efthymiou

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

COSTAS EFTHYMIOU, Case No. 22-cv-04694-VC

Petitioner,

ORDER AWARDING PARTIAL FEES

v. AND COSTS

HEATHER LABONTE,

Respondent.

Federal law provides that “[a]ny court ordering the return of a child” pursuant to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction “shall order the respondent to pay necessary expenses incurred by or on behalf of the petitioner, including court costs, legal fees . . . and transportation costs related to the return of the child, unless the respondent establishes that such order would be clearly inappropriate.” 22 U.S.C. § 9007(b)(3). In February, this Court ordered the return of N.E. to Cyprus under the Hague Convention and set a briefing schedule on a potential award of such expenses. Efthymiou v. LaBonte, 2023 WL 1491252, at *13 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 3, 2023). I LaBonte makes a threshold procedural argument that Efthymiou did not timely move for an award of fees and costs. But the Court set a briefing deadline with which both parties complied; the federal rules only require a motion for fees within 14 days of judgment “unless . .…