Green Appoints Kusch to HD1 Seat
Former Waiakea HS Basketball Coach Charged with Felony Theft
DLNR Wages Bacteriological War Against Mosquitoes
Tuition Hike Coming: UH volunteers to pay higher electric bills to boost wind, solar.
Mayor signs bill to drive creation of new rental housing for Oʻahu
Green begs Supreme Court to Affirm his Fake 'Settlement'
SA: … Insurance companies with claims against Hawaiian Electric tied to hundreds of Maui wildfire lawsuits largely prevailed Friday in court on an issue that could affect when and how they share damage payments with fire victims.
A state Circuit Court judge handling more than 650 fire victim damage cases ruled against expediting an appeal to the Hawaii Supreme Court sought by attorneys for victims as part of their effort to finalize a tentative $4 billion settlement with Hawaiian Electric and other defendants.
Peter Cahill, chief judge of Hawaii’s 2nd Circuit Court on Maui, denied the appeal at least in part because it was sought by attorneys for fire victims who wanted Hawaii’s high court to validate a ruling that Cahill made in their favor.
(TRANSLATION: Green’s ‘settlement’ plan is too crazy for even Cahill.)
“I’ve never heard of a prevailing party appealing, unless is was (for) attorneys’ fees or costs,” the judge said….
(IRONIC: We’ve never heard of a decision binding a non-party.)
(Insurers atty) Romney also said it isn’t right to approve an appeal sought by the same attorneys to essentially uphold Cahill’s earlier ruling to bar claims by the insurers.
Romney called that an unusual novel procedure and said it actually could add time to resolve the Maui wildfire litigation.
“This procedure just doesn’t make sense in terms of what they’re trying to accomplish,” he said. “This will not speed resolution. … It’s creating a mess that has be be cleaned up later, and resolving that mess and taking all those threads apart will ultimately take just as long if not longer than doing this the right way one time with a final appealable order.”…
(TRANSLATION: We insurers know this is just a negotiating tactic.)
Green said 15% of the settlement, or $600 million, has been offered and that insurance company representatives wanted 40%, or $1.6 billion….
If the settlement is terminated and litigation drags out, Green said it could lead to the bankruptcy of Hawaiian Electric and Maui County….
(TRANSLATION: Green has read the BATF report from front to back. Now he needs to find another billion of State money to save HECO from bankruptcy.)
Cahill did grant a motion made by attorneys representing fire victims to ask the Hawaii Supreme Court to give its advice on the legality of Cahill’s earlier ruling to bar direct claims by the insurers against Hawaiian Electric. But this might not have as much impact on finalizing the $4 billion settlement.
(CLUE: Even Hawaii’s grotesquely biased Supreme Court may not be able to swallow that particular condition of Cahill’s ‘settlement’ imposed on non-parties. But if they do, appeal can only go direct to the US Supreme Court. And SCOTUS rejects 99.99% of appeal requests.)
read … Maui judge declines to appeal own wildfire ruling | Honolulu Star-Advertiser (staradvertiser.com)
Lahaina residents question handling of donated relief funds
HNN: … Since the fire, the foundation collected $194.9 million from more than 245,000 individual and corporate donors. In its report issued a year after the fire this month it said it has distributed $109 million….
The largest of the donations was contributing $40 million for a 450-unit temporary housing project…
In all the Maui Strong fund has directed $52 million to lodging and shelter, $24 million to direct financial aid to survivors, aid to children and families, food and resource hubs and health care were the next three priorities….
But at the county’s weekly community meeting..livestreamed on facebook Wednesday night, foundation executives Kehau Meyer heard about the doubts.
Some of the most pointed questions came from Laurie Lei DeGama, a member of Mayor Richard Bissen’s Lahaina advisory committee.
“We know there’s been a lot of fraud,” she asked as Meyer nodded. “So, what are you guys doing to investigate to make sure it is going out into the community and not into peoples’ personal pockets.”…
HNN: Hawaii Community Foundation questioned by Lahaina residents about donations - YouTube
read … Lahaina residents question handling of donated relief funds
State found 'grossly negligent' for placing 8 year-old in abusive foster home
HNN: … A circuit court judge has ruled that the state was “grossly negligent” when it placed an eight-year-old boy in a foster home, where he was then repeatedly sexually abused for years.
The boy is now 35 years old and was identified in court documents only as “Jon Roe No. 121.” He filed a civil suit against the state in 2019.
According to the court records, he was taken away from his parents because of their drug use and violent behavior and then placed in the foster home system.
“DHS (the Department of Human Services) had had some difficulty in placing him,” said Mark Gallagher, who represented the now-grown victim. “He been in several other foster homes, things hadn’t worked out, and they looked at this particular foster home as the place of last resort.”
The court ruling said there were six other children in the foster home, ranging in age from 14 to 18 -- including some with long histories of troubling behavior.
“Sexual improprieties, association with rape allegations, sexual deviancies, physical violence,” said Gallagher. “As an eight-year-old he’s placed in there and, unsurprisingly, he is quickly abused by three of the boys and by the foster parent as well.”
The plaintiff claimed -- and the judge agreed -- that he suffered years of abuse.
“In this particular case, the social worker did not visit the boy, so he was not able to have somebody to speak to. So he really is without a voice,” said Gallagher.
Gallagher said the foster parent is no longer in the program, but he and the other abusers didn’t face criminal charges because the statute of limitations had run out….
read … State found 'grossly negligent' for placing 8 year-old in abusive foster home
Former Hawaii Residents Living in Certain US Territories Can’t Vote in Federal Elections, 9th Circuit Upholds
DD: … The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld federal and state laws that prevent former Hawaii residents who live in certain U.S. territories from voting absentee in federal elections.
Friday’s ruling from the federal three-judge panel effectively bars former Hawaii residents who currently reside in Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands or American Samoa from voting absentee in the 2024 presidential election.
The decision authored by Judge Milan D. Smith, Jr. — a George W. Bush appointee — caps a nearly-four-year-long case that centered on the question of why former Hawaii or U.S. residents who moved abroad can vote absentee, but former residents who live in certain U.S. territories can’t.
In October of 2020, a group of former Hawaii residents who live in Guam and the Virgin Islands challenged a provision of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), and requirements under the Hawaii Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act (UMOVA) that don’t allow them to vote absentee in federal elections.
Former Hawaii residents can vote absentee if they reside in the Northern Mariana Islands or live abroad, the plaintiffs noted, arguing the laws disenfranchise certain voters who live in territories where such voting is prohibited ….
read … Former Hawaii Residents Living in Certain US Territories Can’t Vote in Federal Elections, 9th Circuit Upholds - Democracy Docket
Election News:
Lahaina Fire News:
QUICK HITS: