No. 21-1538

ASDRÚBAL SIMÓN MATA-CABELLO,

Petitioner, Appellee,

v.

TAILI TEE THULA,

Respondent, Appellant.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

[Hon. Daniel R. Domínguez, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Barron, Chief Judge, Lipez and Montecalvo, Circuit Judges.

Victor M. Rivera-Rios for appellant. Rubén T. Nigaglioni, with whom Nigaglioni Law Offices P.S.C. was on brief, for appellee.

April 28, 2023 BARRON, Chief Judge. Taili Tee Thula ("Thula") appeals from the denial of her request for an award of attorney's fees, pursuant to the inherent power of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, and the costs of translation services, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1920(6). We affirm.

I.

The challenges on appeal arise out of a pair of actions -- one filed by Thula in the Puerto Rico courts and one filed by her husband, Asdrúbal Simón Mata-Cabello ("Mata-Cabello"), in federal court. We thus recount the travel of the two actions.

Thula's action in the Puerto Rico courts began when she filed a complaint against Mata-Cabello, then residing in Colombia, in the Court of First Instance of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico on February 20, 2020. The complaint alleged causes of action for divorce under Article 96 of Puerto Rico's Civil Code, P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 31, § 321, custody of the couple's two minor children, child support, alimony, and "the division of the marital estate," as well as claims under Puerto Rico's Domestic Abuse Prevention and Intervention Act, P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 8, § 601 et seq. Thula sought further relief under the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, done at The Hague on October 25, 1980 ("Hague Convention"), and its implementing legislation, the International Child Abduction Remedies Act ("ICARA"), 22 § U.S.C. 9001 et seq.

- 2 - In response, Mata-Cabello moved to dismiss Thula's divorce and custody claims on the ground that the Court of First Instance lacked jurisdiction under Puerto Rico law to hear them because Thula had not been a resident of Puerto Rico for one full year prior to filing her complaint. Mata-Cabello also requested relief pursuant to ICARA and the Hague Convention. Specifically, he requested that the minor children be returned to their "habitual place of residence" in Colombia so that "the divorce and minor custody proceedings" could be resolved in accord with Colombia law.

On October 30, 2020, the Court of First Instance granted the motion to dismiss, explaining that it lacked jurisdiction "to hear the merits of the divorce [c]omplaint filed by [Thula]." The Court of First Instance also dismissed Thula's other claims. In doing so, the court did not address the parties' requests for relief under ICARA and the Hague Convention. Thula filed a timely motion for reconsideration that was denied.

Following the Court of First Instance's denial of Thula's motion for reconsideration, on December 4, 2020, Mata-Cabello filed a petition under ICARA and the Hague Convention in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico that named Thula as the respondent. The petition requested that the District Court order the return of the minor children to

- 3 - their "habitual residence" in Colombia for resolution of the custody proceedings under Colombia law.

Mata-Cabello asserted in the petition that the District Court had jurisdiction over the Hague Convention peti