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

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.

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.”

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. 

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

“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.

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.