Walter Meheula Heen

The case involved a challenge by the non-profit Protect Ala Wai Skyline to the Honolulu City Council's grant of a Special Management Area Use Permit allowing developer Jack Myers to replace the Kaiser Medical Center with a hotel/condominium project consisting of two 30-story towers in Waikiki. The circuit court had affirmed the Council's decision under the Coastal Zone Management Act (HRS chapter 205A) and Ordinance No. 84-4, and the Hawaii Supreme Court also affirmed. The court first held that the appellant had standing to appeal despite its post-decision incorporation because its incorporators had participated in the administrative proceedings. On the merits, the court concluded that the Council's findings in Committee Report No. 804 satisfied the statutory requirements for environmental, consistency, and zoning determinations, and that the permit decision was not arbitrary, capricious, or clearly erroneous under HRS § 91-14(g).

environmentbusiness & regulatoryprocedure

The case involved homeowners whose property flooded repeatedly after a neighboring subdivision was developed, leading them to sue the developer, the county, and the engineering firm for negligence in designing, constructing, and approving the drainage system. The trial court granted directed verdicts for all defendants, but the appellate court reversed. The court held that, when viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, a reasonable jury could find the defendants liable for failing to properly manage surface water flow in compliance with applicable regulations and for unreasonably interfering with natural drainage patterns. The decision focused on whether the subdivision plans and construction adequately preserved the pre-existing watercourse and whether the county's approval and maintenance obligations were met.

torts & liabilityproperty

The case involved a plaintiff in the time-share sales business who sued Hawaii officials under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for a declaratory judgment and injunction, claiming that HRS § 514E-11(1) violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments by banning solicitation of time-share buyers on public streets, beaches, and property. The parties reached a consent judgment in which the state agreed not to enforce the statute, with no admissions on the merits, and the plaintiff then moved for attorney’s fees as the prevailing party under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. The court denied the motion, holding that special circumstances existed because the filing of suit was unnecessary and superfluous; state officials had already notified all affected parties that enforcement was suspended pending constitutional review and had expressed willingness to negotiate without litigation. The court reasoned that the statute’s constitutionality question prompted legislative amendment shortly afterward, and that plaintiff had not given defendants a reasonable opportunity to resolve the matter before suing, so an award would not serve the purposes of § 1988.

free speechcivil rightsbusiness & regulatoryprocedure

This case involved airline pilots who sued their employer Hawaiian Airlines and their union, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), alleging violations of employment contract rights and the union's duty of fair representation under the Railway Labor Act. The pilots claimed that a supplemental collective bargaining agreement improperly set their probationary period such that they were terminated without furlough or seniority rights when a military cargo contract ended in 1977, rather than being placed on a furlough list. The court denied the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and granted the defendants' motions, dismissing the action. The core reasoning was that the suit was barred by Hawaii's one-year statute of limitations for federal claims (H.R.S. § 657-11), as the cause of action accrued no later than the pilots' termination in September 1977 and the suit was not filed until 1980, with no evidence of misrepresentation by the defendants.

labor & employment

This case arose from a dispute under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (20 U.S.C. § 1415) in which the Department of Education appealed an administrative hearing officer's decision ordering tuition payments for private school placement, after a state court had already dismissed a similar petition as unauthorized. The defendant counterclaimed under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and related regulations for failure to pay tuition during the relevant period and moved to dismiss the federal action on timeliness and other grounds. The court partially granted the defendant's motion for attorneys' fees, awarding $3,668.50 after reductions, but denied fees on the appeal itself. It reasoned that the plaintiff's action was not frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless under the Christiansburg standard because no definitive ruling on the thirty-day Hawaii Administrative Procedures Act limitation period existed at the time of filing and the state court filing might have tolled it. Fees were granted only for work on the counterclaim and state administrative proceedings as those were distinct from the non-meritless appeal.

civil rightsprocedure

This case involves a dispute between a general contractor and a carpenters' union over whether a June 1980 notice letter terminated a collective bargaining agreement covering drywall work, leading the union to stop referring workers and picket job sites starting in July 1981. The employer sued under Section 301(a) of the National Labor Relations Act seeking damages and an injunction to halt the union's actions, arguing the disagreement must be resolved through the agreement's grievance and arbitration procedures rather than by work stoppages. The court denied the motion for preliminary and permanent injunction. It reasoned that the core issue—whether the letter effectively terminated the contract—was not an arbitrable grievance under the agreement's procedures, which apply only to disputes arising under an existing contract, and therefore the narrow exception for injunctive relief under Boys Markets v. Retail Clerks did not apply.

labor & employment