ACLU and City and County of Honolulu sign amended stipulation in Stored Property Ordinance and sidewalk Nuisance Ordinance Lawsuit

News Release from City and County of Honolulu January 21, 2016

The City and County of Honolulu and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i Foundation (“ACLU”) are pleased to announce today they have signed an Amended Stipulation that addresses a significant part of the lawsuit filed by the ACLU and co-counsel Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing (“AHFI”) that alleges the City’s enforcement of its Stored Property Ordinance (“SPO”) and Sidewalk Nuisance Ordinance (“SNO”) violated the United States Constitution.

Under the Amended Stipulation, the City has agreed it will not immediately dispose of certain personal property, including tents, bicycles, clothing, and household goods, and the ACLU has agreed the City can immediately dispose of items such as combustible or hazardous items, weapons, illicit drugs, items that contain urine or feces or that are infested with rodents or insects, and items “that cannot reasonably be construed as anything other than trash.”  The City has also agreed that it will improve its impoundment and storage procedures by providing more notice (translated into various languages) to persons who have left personal belongings on city property before it impounds and stores any personal property, by performing more detailed video recording of its future enforcement actions, and simplifying the process for retrieval of stored property and obtaining a waiver of the storage fee.

The City, by its Corporation Counsel and Special Deputies Corporation Counsel, McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon LLP, the ACLU, and AHFI wishes to thank Chief Judge J. Michael Seabright of the United States District Court of Hawai‘i, who assisted the parties in reaching this practical and workable compromise.

The City and its attorneys, the ACLU, and AHFI will have no further comment on the case as there are still outstanding claims in the lawsuit.  The parties continue to work together to address those other claims.

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