by Andrew Walden (Orig published July 18, 2020--UPDATE Sept 12, 2020)

Governor Ige is again being sued over the legality of his COVID emergency orders beyond 60 days.

Ige and Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim are named in the July 17, 2020, complaint, filed in Hawaii Third Circuit Court by lawyers James Hochberg and Harmeet Dhillon on behalf of three members of the Partal family of Waikoloa. 

Hochberg and Dhillon also represent the federal court challenge to Ige’s Emergency Orders, Carmichael vs Ige.

UPDATE: Court upholds Ige Admin interpetation of 60-day clause

Excerpt of Court proceedings Hon Wendy DeWeese Sept 1, 2020 (pg 24)

"…the Court will find that the text of HRS 127A-14(d) does not support plaintiffs' argument. 127A contains no language prohibiting supplementary or additional emergency proclamations.

"The purpose of 127A is to confer comprehensive powers to protect the public and save lives. There is nothing limiting the number of emergency proclamations. Each additional emergency proclamation triggers a new sixty-day period. The supplementary emergency proclamations are distinct and particularized emergency proclamations based on independent evaluations of the relevant circumstances on the ground by the governor…."

read … Transcript

In Partal v Ige, plaintiffs had asserted:

9. There is an active, justiciable controversy between the parties over whether Gov. Ige’s exercise of emergency powers under HRS Chapter 127A has violated the maximum sixty day period prior to automatic termination as provided by HRS 127A-14(d), and therefore all emergency power orders or proclamations issued after May 3, 2020 are facially invalid and as to Plaintiffs cannot be enforced against them….

14. Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 127A-14(d) specifically provides that:

“[a] state of emergency and a local state of emergency shall terminate automatically sixty days after the issuance of a proclamation of a state of emergency or local state of emergency, respectively, or by a separate proclamation of the governor or mayor, whichever occurs first.”

The complaint explains:

41. The Partals decided in 2020 to relocate back to the State of Hawaii and, with Ellen Partal, reside in the (Waikoloa Village) Town Home. In the process of accomplishing that move, Richard Partal returned to Hawaii County in late April and early May during the Covid-19 emergency and observed the quarantine.

42. Later in May, 2020, Richard Partal made arrangements to return to Hawaii, after performing improvements and reinforcements for Interstate 405 freeway in Oregon as an exempt critical infrastructure employee. Part of those arrangements to return to Hawaii included contacting the DOD Covid Exemption office in the Hawaii government, which on May 28, 2020 emailed Richard Partal a written total exemption from the self-quarantine requirements upon his arrival May 30, 2020, including authority to rent a vehicle; and instructions to present a copy of the email to airport screeners.

43. Richard Partal returned to Hawaii on May 30, 2020 and remained there until he had to return to Oregon two weeks later, in mid-June. When preparing for another return to Hawaii in July 2020, Richard Partal contacted the same DOD Covid Exemption office in Hawaii. When Richard Partal returned to Hawaii on July 6, 2020, he showed the exemption letter to the airport screener who informed him his exemption was still effective, and the screener marked the exempt section of Richard Partal’s Mandatory Travel Declaration Form.

44. On July 6, 2020, when Richard Partal left the airport, he was exempt from the mandatory self-quarantine requirements as he had been on May 30, 2020.

45. On July 7, 2020, Richard and Kristine Partal’s two-year old son (hereinafter referred to as “Baby Partal”), accompanied Kristine Partal and Ellen Partal from Oregon to Hawaii to complete the family relocation.

46. At the airport, both Kristine Partal and Ellen Partal were given instructions for self-quarantine; Baby Partal was not instructed to quarantine, nor was he included on any of the paperwork by name or other reference.

47. Richard Partal, Kristine Partal, Ellen Partal and Baby Partal all resided together in the Town Home.

The Regime has spies everywhere:

48. On July 8, 2020, Richard Partal, not subject to the quarantine, took Baby Partal, also not subject to the quarantine, to the swimming pool in the common area of the Town Home to give the little boy some entertainment.

49. The resident manager of the complex which included the Town Home and the swimming pool called the police to report the violation of quarantine as required by Gov. Ige’s Ninth Supplementary Proclamation.

50. On or about July 10, 2020, Richard Partal received a telephone call from Mayor Kim’s civil defense office and was told that due to the report of him having been in the common area of the Town Home, his quarantine exemption was revoked and he too was subject to quarantine with his wife, mother and son; that they had to social distance inside of the Town Home; and that consequently he and his wife, Kristine Partal, were not permitted to share a bed during the quarantine.

51. Richard Partal notified his employer that based on the revocation of his quarantine exemption he could not work until after July 21, 2020 so would not be able to appear for work until then.

52. As a result, Richard Partal has lost nearly two weeks of wages from work.

53. On Saturday, July 11, 2020, at approximately 12:30 pm, two police officers from the police force on the Island of Hawaii under the authority of Mayor Kim knocked on the Town Home door and presented Richard with photographs of him, Baby Partal and his mother, Ellen Partal, at the pool of the Town Home common elements.

54. Ellen had been told at the airport by the authorities not to go out of the town home complex into the public during her quarantine and she was honoring that by staying within the town home complex by being at the swimming pool area.

55. The police officers presented Ellen Partal and Richard Partal with separate documents entitled State of Hawaii Citation for Traffic Crime(s) Arrest in the District Court of the Third Circuit.

56. The police officer ordered Richard Partal to self-quarantine until July 21, 2020, which exceeds the 14-day quarantine he would have been subject to quarantine had he not been exempt upon arrival July 6, 2020.

57. Richard Partal was given Citation No. 3DTC-20-072316 notifying him that he was accused of violating HRS 127A-9 by engaging in prohibited acts; and Ellen Partal was given Citation No. 3DTC-20-072405 notifying her that she was accused of violating HRS 127A-9 for engaging in prohibited acts (the “Citations”).

58. Richard Partal and Ellen Partal now face misdemeanor charges which carry a maximum term of imprisonment of one year and a maximum fine of $5,000….

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PDF: Read Full Complaint

E Court Kokua: 3CCV-20-0000277

InverseCondemnation: New Challenge: Hawaii Governor's COVID Orders Are Pau Already 

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