HONOLULU (KHON2) — Thousands of people affected by the deadly Maui wildfires last August could soon be offered a settlement from Maui County. But how much, and whether it will be enough to avoid trials, remains to be seen.
The settlement move comes as the first of hundreds of lawsuits, in which the county is defendant, moves closer to trial. Lawmakers and attorneys tell KHON2 it can be a toss-up as to which is the more costly path.
The Maui County Council takes up resolution Tuesday afternoon introduced at the mayor’s request for what’s called a “global settlement of all wildfire litigation against the county.”
“I do know that a lot of people are concerned financially as well,” said Maui County Councilmember Tamara Paltin. “So financial settlement at this time could make or break folks.”
The resolution says nothing about a dollar figure, but lists a sum of 449 wildfire lawsuits filed by 2,216 affected parties.
Mayor Richard Bissen’s communications team did not respond to repeated requests for an interview, but in the resolution itself, the corporation counsel writes: “The County of Maui, and Plaintiffs, to avoid incurring expenses and the uncertainty of a judicial determination of the parties’ respective rights and liabilities, will attempt to reach resolution of the wildfire litigation by way of a negotiated global settlement.”
Whether that means just the county is party to the plan — or other defendants too like Hawaiian Electric — isn’t yet revealed.
“I can’t really get into the specifics of settlement discussions or the mediation process. That’s all very confidential, and it’s intended to allow the parties to be open with each other and have candid conversations about the case,” explained attorney Aaron Creps of Leavitt Yamane and Soldner, a local law firm representing many Maui fire clients. “Typically, global settlement means a resolution of all claims, but I can’t speculate any more than that.”
Among Creps’ clients are relatives and the estate of Debbie Thomas, who died in a vehicle in Lahaina town, in what will be the first wrongful death case set to be heard at trial this fall.
“Mediation has been ongoing, and the parties have been discussing settlement for ourselves,” Creps said. “We’ve been more focused on preparing for trial in November and to be ready in the event that the cases don’t resolve.”
Separately Maui County is putting $10 million into the $175 million One Ohana Fund, with the majority coming from HECO and the state. Other utilities and West Maui Land Co. round out the contributions.
As of registration closing in mid-June, 50 parties registered for death claims with One Ohana for a set $1.5 million a piece, and 20 filed for physical injury. As of today, 9 have been approved and none are yet paid.
“It depends on where they are in that (One Ohana) claims process, but that’s the possibility that people have already given up claims against certain of the defendants,” Creps said.
The public has not yet been told the cause and origin of the Lahaina blaze.
The feds say they presented their findings to the county last month. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives told KHON2: “Our report will be released with Maui Fire Department’s origin and cause report.”
We’ve been pushing the ATF and county to do so, and just today the Maui Fire Department spokesperson said: “They (ATF) have only given us a verbal update. We cannot complete our report until we have their completed report in writing.”
“It’s also undisclosed to us,” Creps said. “I don’t know what the contents say. I don’t know why it’s being withheld and hasn’t been turned over as we approach the one-year anniversary of the disaster. But we are doing our own independent investigation into the origin and cause and spread of the fire, and my guess is the findings will be pretty similar.”
The undisclosed reports could help inform the public and county council about the county’s liabilities and exposures — and whether trial or settlement the better path. At Tuesday’s hearing, lawmakers say much could end up behind closed doors in executive session.
“I really need to know more about what they’ve learned as to what our liability is and what they think is fair,” Paltin said, “and then compare that against, the stories that I’ve heard from people and what personally I lived through during and after the fire and see if I agree that it’s a fair settlement.”