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Report: Key Defendants Have Agreed To Settle Maui Wildfire Claims For $4 Billion

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5 months ago

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Report: Key Defendants Have Agreed To Settle Maui Wildfire Claims For Billion


But parties say a deal still has not been reached ahead of a key deadline on Friday.

Hawaiian Electric Industries, the state of Hawaii, Maui County and Charter Communications have agreed to pay $4 billion to settle several hundred lawsuits filed on behalf of thousands of victims of Aug. 8’s Lahaina wildfires, Bloomberg News has reported, citing anonymous sources. 

But the tentative settlement hasn’t been finalized and “could still fall apart,” Bloomberg said. 

The news report comes after weeks of talk of an impending deal, coming out of mediation sessions among parties in Los Angeles in late June. The mediators are Keith Hunter of Honolulu and Louis Meisinger of Los Angeles.

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Parties to the litigation have until Friday to say whether they will agree to terms of a global settlement proposed by the mediators, sources familiar with the process told Civil Beat. But according to the mediation process, the sources said, the proposed settlement will fall apart unless all parties sign on by the Friday deadline.

Hawaiian Electric Co. spokesman Jim Kelly said in a statement: “The mediation process is ongoing and confidential and we’re not going to comment.”

A fire engine drives past buildings destroyed by wildfire in the historic town of Lahania Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, on Maui. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2023)
A fire engine drives past buildings destroyed by wildfire in the historic town of Lahania two days after the fire. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2023)

Still, speculation of an impending settlement has been building for weeks, despite repeated statements by parties familiar with the talks that there simply is no deal. Lawyers told Maui Circuit Court Judge Peter Cahill that there was no settlement during a July 5 status conference to discuss how the court will handle the first trials, which are scheduled for November.

But rumors intensified when a Maui County Council committee on July 9 passed a resolution authorizing the Maui County Council to approve a global settlement. The full council is scheduled to vote on Friday on whether to adopt the resolution.

People familiar with negotiations on Thursday emphasized an agreement was still not finalized. 

A Note On Anonymous Sources

Civil Beat generally uses on-the-record sources. However, we occasionally use unnamed sources when a source is sharing important information we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to obtain and when they could face negative consequences for speaking publicly. The reporter and at least one editor must know the identity of the source and the use of anonymity must be approved by a senior editor. You can read more about our anonymous sources policy here.

“There are discussions, but to my knowledge, nothing’s happened,” said Rick Fried, a Honolulu attorney representing Maui County in wildfire litigation.

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“It’s not a done deal,” said another person familiar with the settlement talks. “The situation is very much in flux.”

The Friday mediation deadline could provide some certainty, the source said.

A central unanswered question is where the plaintiffs stand. There are dozens of lawyers, almost 500 lawsuits and thousands of potential plaintiffs, and any settlement would have to be agreed to by the plaintiffs. 

Further complicating the situation, insurers from around the world have already paid billions of dollars in claims related to the fire, and the insurers have filed suit to get reimbursed for those claims. That’s set up the potential for tension between the plaintiffs and insurers fighting over the settlement money.

According to Bloomberg, insurance industry lawyers are seeking $2 billion from the settlement as reimbursement for the wildfire claims already paid. Plaintiffs have countered, offering $600 million to the insurers, Bloomberg reported, but didn’t say whether the insurers had accepted the offer.

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But there’s also the more fundamental question of whether the plaintiffs are on board with the settlement. Bloomberg’s report didn’t say.

And Jesse Creed, a lawyer who serves as a liaison for plaintiffs, declined to comment.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.



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Hawaii

Man surrenders after 5-hour barricade at busy Honolulu store

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3 hours ago

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December 19, 2024

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Man surrenders after 5-hour barricade at busy Honolulu store


HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – After five hours, a barricade at the Don Quijote store on Kaheka Street ended peacefully Wednesday night.

The incident started just after 5 p.m., prompting the evacuation of shoppers and employees at what is one of the busiest stores at any time of year, but especially during the holidays.

We’re told that the man started a disturbance and then attempted to start a fire, which activated the fire sprinkler system.

Sources said he barricaded himself in a storage room at the back of the store.

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He surrendered and was taken into custody without incident at 10:10 p.m.

Dozens of people waited in the parking lot — a mix of shoppers whose search for bargains and holiday gifts got interrupted, those arriving to shop, and employees.

Many only heard about what happened, or were caught by surprise by the huge police presence surrounding the building.

Michael Brewster said he was on his way in when “one worker down the road at the restaurant said, ‘You can’t go in. Somebody went cuckoo, throwing bottles in the aisles and stuff.‘”

The police department had a large presence at the scene, including someone who appeared to be a crisis negotiator and Specialized Services Division officers.

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There were also Emergency Medical Services personnel in full protective gear.

Kaheka and Poni streets were closed during the incident.

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.



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It’s Official: Redeem AAdvantage Miles on Hawaiian Airlines Mainland-to-Hawaii Flights After a 9-Year Hiatus! – View from the Wing

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10 hours ago

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December 18, 2024

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It’s Official: Redeem AAdvantage Miles on Hawaiian Airlines Mainland-to-Hawaii Flights After a 9-Year Hiatus! – View from the Wing


It’s Official: Redeem AAdvantage Miles on Hawaiian Airlines Mainland-to-Hawaii Flights After a 9-Year Hiatus!

by Gary Leff


American Airlines has long partnered with Hawaiian Airlines. Hawaiian has now been acquired by American’s ‘West Coast Alliance’ and oneworld partner Alaska Airlines. And so a change has been made to using American AAdvantage miles on Hawaiian Airlines: you can now redeem AAdvantage miles to fly to Hawaii!.

  • In September 2015, American stopped allowing AAdvantage members to redeem miles between Hawaii and the mainland U.S..
  • Airlines frequently partnered with Hawaiian for their intra-Hawaii flights, and to some extent their route network beyond Hawaii. However awards to Hawaii are popular and partner redemptions there are expensive.
  • Hawaiian is on its way towards being integrated into Alaska Airlines. They will achieve a single operating certificate, at which point the carrier will be part of oneworld. Alaska will retain a separate brand identity for Hawaii flights, but it will be one airline. We’re going to get these redemptions eventually, anyway – likely 2026. It’s good to see it now!

Hawaiian award availability, especially from the West Coast (and Austin, while it lasts), is better than award availability to Hawaii on American or Alaska. I do expect Alaska’s revenue management to change this over time, as well as to better sell these flights.

You can use Honolulu as a one-stop gateway across the Pacific as well. Hawaiian currently flies to,

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  • Auckland and Sydney
  • Fukuoka, Tokyo Haneda and Narita, and Osaka in Japan
  • Seoul
  • Papeete, Pago Pago, and Raratonga

One thing American needs to do is fix mileage-earning on Hawaiian Airlines. I’ve heard from several readers who are affected by Alaska and Hawaii shifting their flying between the two airlines.

American AAdvantage members were encouraged to travel on Alaska Airlines, because that earned both miles and status credit in the AAdvantage program. However, schedules shifting such that Hawaiian will now operate a planned flight means this changes.

There are people purchasing tickets for a flight on Alaska, who will learn that the flight is going to be a Hawaiian flight. This is going to happen more and more prior to a single operating certificate on the two carriers. But they only bought the ticket because it was going to earn them credit with American.

Unfortunately, Hawaiian Airlines flights with a Hawaiian flight number do not earn Loyalty Points (credit towards AAdvantage elite status). That’s a gap which should be addressed.

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Nonetheless, it’s great news today that there’s more mileage-earning and much more flexibility with mileage redemption on Hawaiian Airlines now than there’s been in the last nine years.

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Hawaii

Who is Kamaka Air? Here’s what we know

Published

18 hours ago

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December 18, 2024

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Who is Kamaka Air? Here’s what we know


HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Kamaka Air Inc. was founded in 1993 as a local airline.

It is certified by the Federal Aviation Administration as an inter-island airline and logistics company for per-pound air cargo services and non-scheduled charters.

Its recent history is an example of consolidation happening in the general aviation industry across the country.

In February 2022, RLG Capital and Trinity Private Equity Group acquired an 80-percent majority stake in the airline.

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Most of its aircraft are single-engine Cessna Caravan’s like the one that crashed on Tuesday. These are extremely reliable aircraft with the capability of short landings and takeoffs needed to serve airports especially on Molokai and Lanai, so they are essential in serving those small communities.

The one that crashed on Tuesday was not particularly old. It was built in 2011.

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When Mokulele airlines — which provides essential air service to Molokai and Lanai — had trouble meeting its schedules last year, Kamaka Air began offering charter flights for passengers as well.

In January 2023, a Kamaka Air flight crashed near the Molokai airport. The plane was totaled but the pilot and copilot walked away with minor injuries.

In May 2024, Kamaka Air put out a press release saying it was under new ownership and new leadership with complete support of the existing leadership of Kamaka.

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It promised a smooth transition but ran into trouble filling key jobs, including a chief pilot and director of flight operations.

That made the FAA uncomfortable, so the company shut down temporarily and returned to service within a couple of weeks.

Kamaka Air is proud of its history in serving during hard times. Their planes were used to deliver emergency supplies of COVID tests to Lanai and food to Kauai during the pandemic, and food and other emergency supplies to Maui after the wildfires.

As federal aviation authorities investigate, the airline will be scrutinized for its operations and safety protocols, and whether it was fully in compliance with FAA certification requirements.

David Hinderland, Kamaka Air CEO, issued the following statement:

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“It is with heavy hearts that Kamaka Air confirms the loss of two members of the Kamaka Air family in an accident at 3:13 this afternoon near the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. We are not releasing the names of the pilots until family members have had a chance to process this tragedy, and we hope the media will give them the same consideration.

In the meantime, we are making ourselves available to the Hawaiian Department of Transportation, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Federal Aviation Administration for investigation into this accident, and we will also share appropriate information with the media as it is confirmed over the coming hours and days.

At this time, we ask for your patience, as you know the urgency of getting correct information that not only offers a clear understanding of what happened, but to assure that the information is handled appropriately.”

“It is with heavy hearts that Kamaka Air confirms the loss of two members of the Kamaka Air family.”

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.



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