Case 0:08-md-01916-KAM Document 1499 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/08/2017 Page 1 of 5

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
Case No. 08-01916-MD-MARRA/JOHNSON

IN RE: CHIQUITA BRANDS INTERNATIONAL, INC.,

ALIEN TORT STATUTE AND SHAREHOLDER DERIVATIVE LITIGATION

______________________________________/

This Document Relates To: ATS ACTIONS

Does 1-976 (10-cv-80652)

Does 1-677 (11-cv-80404)
Does 1-2146 (17-cv-80475)
______________________________________/

Plaintiffs' Motion for Issuance of a Letter of Request

Under the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence
Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters

Pursuant to the Hague Convention of 18 March 1970 on the Taking of Evidence

Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters (Hague Evidence Convention), 28 U.S.C.

1781, the Plaintiffs in the above-captioned ATS cases request the issuance of a Letter of

Request for International Judicial Assistance (Letter of Request) for the production of

documents created by and in the custody of three agencies of the Republic Colombia.

Counsel for the Defendant, Chiquita Brands, and for several Individual Defendants,

consent to the Motion. Counsel for other plaintiff groups were sent these letters on June

27 and again yesterday, June 7, 2017, but none responded. The other plaintiffs' counsel

are apparently not interested in including their clients in this.

The United States and Colombia are parties to the Hague Evidence Convention.

28 U.S.C. 1781. Because the documents requested herein are located in a foreign
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country and their custodians are not subject to the Courts in personam jurisdiction,

issuance of a Letter of Request is the proper means to ask for these materials. See, e.g., In

re Anschuetz & Co., GMbH, 754 F.2d 602, 615 (5th Cir. 1985); Restatement (Third) of

Foreign Relations Law of the United States 474(2).

The proposed Letter of Request, following the model form set out in the Hague

Evidence Convention, is filed as Exhibit 1 to this Motion. It is similar to a Joint Request

of the Defendants and the ATA Plaintiffs, made on November 6, 2015, D.E. 927, which

was for documents regarding the Defendants' alleged financing of the Fuerzas Armadas

Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC.

The instant Letter of Request seeks records for undersigned counsel's eight (8)

bellwether cases, from three Colombian agencies involved in war crimes tribunals and

reparations: the Comisin de Justicia y Paz (Commission of Justice and Peace), Accion

Social (Social Action), and the Unidad para la Atencin y Reparacin Integral a las

Vctimas (Unit for the Attention and Integral Reparation of Victims). The requests are

narrowly tailored to these specific cases so that they will not impose an undue burden on

the Republic of Colombia.

Of these eight bellwether cases, four of the files have correspondence with the

Comisin de Justicia y Paz, and four have correspondence with Accion Social. None

have correspondence with the Unidad para la Atencin y Reparacin Integral a las

Vctimas. However, the Defendant has requested this material from the Plaintiffs in

discovery, including the Registro nico de Vctimas (Unique Victim Registry), which is

maintained by this agency.

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The information requested is clearly relevant to proving individual causation in

the eight test cases. The Comission of Justice and Peace is a war crimes tribunal, in

which paramilitary commanders have admitted committing thousands of crimes. Four of

the eight cases have proceedings either underway, or that have been resolved by this

court. The Plaintffs should win these cases in summary judgment, unless the Defendant

can find some issue in the confession of the murder. It is Plaintiffs' hope that at some

future time, all of the confessed cases can be decided in Plaintiffs' favor without trials.

Accion Social and the Unidad para la Atencin y Reparacin Integral a las

Vctimas are agencies that determine whether individuals qualify as victims of war

crimes, and provide financial benefits to recognized victims. Four of the eight cases have

correspondence wth Accion Social. Records of the Unidad para la Atencin y

Reparacin Integral a las Vctimas were requested by Chiquita Brands from the Plaintiffs

in discovery, although none of the Plaintiffs have corresponded with this agency.

Paragraph 13 of the Letter asks the Colombian government to treat the Annex of

Plaintiff and Decedent names and cedula numbers as Highly Confidential, pursuant to the

Protective Order. Another important change is in Paragraph 15, in which the Court

requests that a legal proceeding be opened in Colombia to supervise the handling of this

request, with counsel for the parties to appear before a Colombian judge. It will be

important to open a case in Colombia to manage the production of these documents,

comparable to what we would do with a Hague Request pursuant to 28 USC 1782. The

purpose of this proceeding is to define the scope of relevant testimony and make sure it

gets produced. There should be audio recordings of Colombian paramilitaries confessing

to half of these eight murders, and perhaps more. Without a Colombian judge to
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supervise the production of these records, the result might be the same as what the ATA

Plaintiffs obtained: a series of "no records" responses.

Since no other counsel have expressed any interest in this, I'm willing to

undertake all it myself and pay the costs. I anticipate that this Letter of Request will only

be the first of two, with a second request made early in 2018 to take depositions of the

persons who confessed to the murders, if they are in Colombia. (some important

paramilitaries are imprisoned in the U.S.) The identities of these individuals are not

known with certainty at this time.

Conclusion

For the foregoing reasons, the Plaintiffs' request that this Court issue the attached

Letter of Request under the Hague Evidence Convention to the Republic of Colombia.

Separately, the Plaintiffs will move the Court to file the Highly Confidential Annex of

plaintiff and decedent names and cedula numbers under seal.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Paul Wolf

____________________
Paul Wolf, CO Bar #42107
Attorney for Plaintiffs
PO Box 46213
Denver, CO 80201
(202) 431-6986
fax: n/a
paulwolf@yahoo.com

July 8, 2017
Certificate of Service

I hereby certify that on this 8th of July, 2017, I filed the foregoing Motion, along
with its two Exhibits and Proposed Order, using the Court's CM/ECF electronic case-
filing system, which will send notices by email to all parties entitled to receive them.
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/s/ Paul Wolf

______________
Paul Wolf