Supreme Court of Hawaii Decisions 2017
Date: December 22, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-12-0000109
Justia Opinion Summary: The Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) gravely erred in holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by allowing the State to present testimony in rebuttal that went beyond the limited scope permitted by…
Date: December 14, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-15-0000440
Justia Opinion Summary: In this interlocutory appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed the orders of the circuit court denying Defendant’s motions to dismiss with prejudice the charges against him. Defendant was charged with murder in the second…
Date: December 14, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0000986
Justia Opinion Summary: There is a constitutional right of the public to film the official activities of police officers in a public place. Defendant was arrested for interfering with government operations and other offenses while filming with…
Date: December 14, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0001108
Justia Opinion Summary: The post-conviction petition filed in this case raised colorable claims for relief where Petitioner alleged that his stated desire to appeal the order dismissing his case without prejudice was not effectuated by his…
Date: December 14, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-15-0000640
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was whether Sierra Club’s concern regarding the “public health and visibility impacts of burning coal” rose to the level of property within the meaning of the due process clause and whether the protections of…
Date: December 6, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0001125
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal from the denial of Petitioner’s motion for return of her personal possessions allegedly taken during the execution of a writ of ejectment after the foreclosure sale of a house in which she resided, the…
Date: December 5, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-15-0000520
Justia Opinion Summary: The Hawai’i Civil Rights Commission (HCRC) did not have jurisdiction under Haw. Rev. Stat. 368-1.5 over this claim that a student was subject to disability discrimination and improper denial of reasonable accommodations…
Date: November 21, 2017
Docket Number: SCPW-17-0000171
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court here provided guidance as to when circumstances are compelling for purposes of denying a defendant’s motion for release from custody when the defendant is held for a period of more than two days after…
Date: November 21, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-13-0004085
Justia Opinion Summary: Aerial surveillance of the curtilage of a private residence conducted for the purposes of detecting criminal activity thereupon qualifies as a “search” within the meaning of Haw. Const. art. I, 7. In this case, three…
Date: November 9, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0000021
Date: November 6, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0000930
Date: October 24, 2017
Docket Number: SCPW-17-0000661
Date: October 24, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0000557
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) on appeal affirming the circuit court’s order denying International Fidelity Insurance Company’s renewed motion to set aside judgment or…
Date: October 20, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-15-0000461
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals rejecting Defendant’s contention that the district court abused its discretion in not dismissing with prejudice the charges against Petitioner…
Date: October 16, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-15-0000599
Justia Opinion Summary: The County of Maui’s land use regulations did not constitute a regulatory taking of property owned by Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs brought suit against the County arguing that the County’s land use regulations and…
Date: October 16, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-16-0000800
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court prospectively held that when a party to a circuit court civil case timely appeals a purportedly appealable final judgment that is later determined not to meet the appealability requirements of Jenkins…
Date: October 13, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-12-0000398
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case raising two questions concerning Hawaii law of workers’ compensation as it relates to permanent partial disability (PPD) awards, the Supreme Court held (1) a PPD award for an unscheduled injury that is not…
Date: October 9, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-15-0000439
Justia Opinion Summary: After a joint trial, the jury found Lawrence Bruce guilty of promoting prostitution in the second degree and found Justin McKinley guilty of promoting prostitution in the first degree. The intermediate court of appeals…
Date: September 27, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-14-0001363
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted Petitioners’ request for costs but denied their request for an award of attorney’s fees in their action against the State of Hawaii and the State of Hawaii Department of Transportation. The…
Date: September 20, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-15-0000548
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this appeal were appropriate procedures for cases in which a trial court provides a “sentencing inclination.” In this opinion, the Supreme Court discussed procedures trial judges should follow before…
Date: September 18, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0000387
Justia Opinion Summary: In this arbitrability dispute, the Supreme Court reversed the portion of the intermediate court of appeals’ (ICA) order denying Petitioners’ request for appellate attorneys’ fees and affirmed the portions of the ICA’s…
Date: September 15, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-13-0002347
Date: September 6, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-13-0002125
Justia Opinion Summary: Commercial aquarium collection pursuant to permits issued under Haw. Rev. Stat. 188-31 and the Department of Land and Natural Resource’s (DLNR) administrative rules is subject to the environmental review procedures…
Date: September 5, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-16-0000025
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the portion of the intermediate court of appeals’ (ICA) judgment denying without prejudice Philip Kozma’s request for attorneys’ fees related to his appeal but vacated the portion of the ICA’s…
Date: August 30, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-16-0000681
Justia Opinion Summary: Under Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) 641-11, a defendant may appeal from an order of the circuit court dismissing the proceedings without prejudice. After the circuit court dismissed defendant's case without prejudice due…
Date: August 28, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0000355
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court of Hawaii affirmed defendant's conviction for sexually assaulting his minor daughter. The court held that the family court did not abuse its discretion in admitting most of the testimony of the State's…
Date: August 25, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0000472
Justia Opinion Summary: The circuit court and the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) did not err in determining that the State obtained an easement over and across the cement path atop a seawall (the Seawall) by common law implied dedication.…
Date: August 22, 2017
Docket Number: SCAD-17-0000557
Date: August 15, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-13-0000030
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) affirming Defendant’s conviction for the offense of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant. On appeal, Defendant argued…
Date: August 11, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-11-0000065
Justia Opinion Summary: Under the facts of this case, the doctrine of sovereign immunity did not protect the State from an arbitrator’s award of prejudgment interest. This case arose from Grievant’s termination from her job as a public school…
Date: August 10, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-12-0000819
Date: August 9, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-12-0000819
Date: August 3, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0000426
Justia Opinion Summary: An appeal of an order confirming sale is moot when the appellant does not post a supersedeas bond to obtain a stay of the proceedings prior to the sale of the property to a bona fide purchaser. In this case R. Onaga,…
Date: July 28, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-15-0000582
Date: July 25, 2017
Docket Number: SCPW-17-0000514
Date: July 21, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-15-0000466
Date: July 20, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-24489
Justia Opinion Summary: The circuit court erred when it restricted Defendant during his criminal trial in deciding whether and when in the course of presenting his defense he should take the stand, in violation of his constitutional privilege…
Date: July 19, 2017
Docket Number: SCPW-17-0000455
Date: July 14, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-12-0000819
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed its decision in Narayan I, in which the court held that Plaintiffs, a group of individual condominium owners, could not be compelled to arbitrate claims arising from the financial breakdown of…
Date: July 12, 2017
Docket Number: SCPW-17-0000515
Date: July 10, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-15-0000582
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a member of the Employees' Retirement System of the State of Hawai'i (ERS), challenged the denial of "service-connected disability retirement" benefits after she was shot while serving as a public summer…
Date: July 7, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0000842
Date: July 5, 2017
Docket Number: SCPW-17-0000515
Date: June 30, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0001066
Date: June 30, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0001079
Justia Opinion Summary: A defendant’s failure to take prescription medication does not constitute self-induced intoxication under Haw. Rev. Stat. 702-230, which precludes the defendant from relying on the defense of lack of penal responsibility…
Date: June 30, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-16-0000011
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner applied for certiorari review of the ICA's order dismissing her appeal from an unfavorable summary judgment order. The Supreme Court of Hawai'i vacated the dismissal order because all claims against all…
Date: June 29, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0000833
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of criminal trespassing in the first degree, terroristic threatening in the second degree, and assault in the third degree. Defendant appealed, arguing that the circuit…
Date: June 29, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0001151
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) vacating Defendant’s conviction for operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant (OVUII) in violation of Haw. Rev. Stat.…
Date: June 28, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-15-0000462
Justia Opinion Summary: In these consolidated cases (Garner and Kawashima), the Supreme Court held that the circuit court erred in determining that Regulation 5203 was a Haw. Rev. Stat. chapter 91 rule and in granting summary judgment in favor…
Date: June 21, 2017
Docket Numbers: SCWC-12-0001040, SCWC-12-0001041, SCWC-12-0001042, SCWC-12-0001043, SCWC-12-0001044, SCWC-12-0001045, SCWC-12-0001046, SCWC-12-0001047
Justia Opinion Summary: In eight separate criminal cases, International Fidelity Insurance Company issued eight separate powers of attorney (POAs) to either Ida Peppers of Freedom Bail Bond or Charles Fisher of AAA Local Bail Bonds to execute a…
Date: June 21, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0001217
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed Defendant’s conviction of committing the offense of terroristic threatening in the second degree, rendered after a bench trial. On appeal, Defendant argued that his substantial rights were…
Date: June 15, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-16-0000588
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants, a group of individual condominium owners in the Kapulua Bay condominium, challenged the vote of the Association of Apartment Owners of Kapulua Bay Condominium to convert the residential community into a…
Date: June 15, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-12-0000731
Justia Opinion Summary: Christopher Haig and Myrna Murdoch, two beneficiaries of a testamentary trust created under the will of Samuel Damon, objected to the probate court’s approval of the trust’s accounts from 1999 to 2003. The intermediate…
Date: June 15, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-13-0000132
Justia Opinion Summary: The circuit court deprived Defendant of his right to confront and cross-examine the complaining witness (CW) as to her bias and motive by limiting the CW’s testimony on the subject of Defendant’s immigration status and…
Date: June 15, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-13-0000449
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from the administration of two irrevocable trusts (together, the trusts) established by Richard and Rachel Ishida. The trusts named as beneficiaries the Ishidas’ daughters Jeri Wilson and Juney Ishida and…
Date: June 15, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-15-0000066
Justia Opinion Summary: The intermediate court of appeals (ICA) erred in concluding that a challenge to the erroneous inclusion of prior convictions in a PSI cannot be brought on a Hawai'i Rules of Penal Procedure Rule 35 motion for…
Date: June 15, 2017
Docket Number: SCWSC-12-0000731
Date: June 13, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-15-0000912
Justia Opinion Summary: Under the circumstances of this case, it was unconscionable to require an employee to pay half the estimated arbitration costs up front in order to access the arbitral forum, and therefore, the requirement was…
Date: June 7, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-14-0001363
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed a negligence action against the State and the State Department of Transportation (collectively, the State) after a rockfall occurred on the state highway on which Plaintiffs were driving and a boulder…
Date: June 6, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0001134
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal arose from a judicial decree of foreclosure granted in favor of U.S. Bank N.A. (Plaintiff) and against Joseph and Chanelle Meneses (Defendants). The intermediate court of appeals (ICA) affirmed the judgment…
Date: May 31, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0001302
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was the question that the Supreme Court left open in State v. Mainaaupo, 178 P.3d 1 (Haw. 2008): whether the right to remain silent attaches rearrest and, if so, in what manner and to what extent…
Date: May 26, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-13-0005253
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed a complaint against Attorney alleging that Attorney failed properly to advertise and conduct non-judicial foreclosure sales of their properties in violation of duties under Plaintiffs’ mortgages,…
Date: May 26, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-15-0000460
Justia Opinion Summary: Health insurers do not have a broad, unrestricted right of subrogation against third-party tortfeasors who cause injury to their insureds but, rather, are limited to reimbursement rights established by statute. In this…
Date: May 25, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-12-0001017
Justia Opinion Summary: The circuit court excluded three statements that Defendant made to the police, concluding that the first and second statements were unlawfully elicited from Defendant because they were obtained prior to the police…
Date: May 19, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-15-0000131
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the District Court of the Fifth Circuit finding Defendant guilty of simple trespass and harassment, holding that the record on appeal did not indicate a valid waiver of counsel.…
Date: May 18, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0001047
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant and his codefendant were charged with methamphetamine trafficking in the second degree. The Supreme Court reversed Defendant’s conviction, holding that the circuit court erred in instructing the jury on the…
Date: May 17, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-16-0000766
Date: May 16, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0000828
Justia Opinion Summary: Court had discretion to permit government-condemnor to withdraw a portion of deposit of estimated just compensation. Three parcels of privately-owned property were condemned for a public park. In the owner’s appeal,…
Date: May 15, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-11-0001060
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court remanded this divorce case to the family court, holding that the family court erred in failing to identify equitable considerations that could have justified deviating from the partnership model when…
Date: May 15, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-12-0000133
Justia Opinion Summary: An anticipatory search warrant must, on its face, identify the triggering condition on the face of the warrant to be valid. Petitioners were charged with drug offenses based on evidence seized in a search conducted…
Date: May 15, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-12-0001121
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated Defendant’s conviction for operating or assuming actual physical control of a vehicle with .08 or more grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath, holding that the district court erred in…
Date: May 10, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-13-0002691
Justia Opinion Summary: In this summary disposition order, the Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction for resisting arrest but reversed Defendant’s conviction for burglary in the second degree. The court held that the intermediate court…
Date: May 4, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-13-0000056
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of one count of methamphetamine trafficking in the first degree and two counts of prohibited acts related to drug paraphernalia. The circuit court imposed a mandatory minimum term of thirteen…
Date: May 3, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0001066
Date: May 1, 2017
Docket Number: SCAD-17-0000333
Date: April 21, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-13-0002064
Justia Opinion Summary: John Hasircoglu was an employee of a subcontractor to FOPCO, Inc., the general contractor on a tunnel construction project on Molokai. In response to a request by the State, FOPCO identified Donald Clark and Michael…
Date: April 21, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0001060
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was arrested for operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant. Before he decided whether to submit to alcohol concentration testing, Defendant was affirmatively advised that he was not entitled to…
Date: April 13, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-14-0000970
Justia Opinion Summary: RT Import Inc. filed a complaint against Jesus and Mila Torres seeking damages for merchandise allegedly misdelivered by WFS to the Torreses, which was then converted by the Torreses. RT Import and the Torreses agreed to…
Date: April 6, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-15-0000048
Justia Opinion Summary: Child was born to Mother and Father. Mother filed a petition for paternity. Father and Mother entered into a stipulated agreement regarding custody, visitation, and child support. In 2011, Mother and Father reduced…
Date: March 20, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-12-0000588
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of Counts VI and VIII in violation of Haw. Rev. Stat. 709-906(1) and (5). The Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) affirmed, ruling (1) regarding Count VI, the self-defense and defense of others…
Date: March 20, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-15-0000907
Date: March 17, 2017
Docket Number: SCPW-17-0000097
Date: March 2, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-12-0000703
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from a divorce proceeding between Husband and Wife. At issue in this appeal was Husband’s cross-appeal, in which he argued that the family court erred in failing to award him any Category 3 credit for…
Date: March 2, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-15-0000053
Justia Opinion Summary: Lanric Hyland appealed from a county clerk decision to the local board of registration for the County of Hawaii. The local board determined that Hyland mailed his appeal within ten days of service of the county clerk’s…
Date: February 28, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-12-0001077
Justia Opinion Summary: After a trial, Defendant was found guilty of disorderly conduct. The district court sentenced Defendant to six months of probation, seventy-five hours of community service, and $105 in fees and assessments. Defendant…
Date: February 28, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-15-0000005
Justia Opinion Summary: Bank of America, N.A. filed a complaint seeking to foreclose on Homeowner’s property. Homeowner asserted numerous defenses, including that the Bank was not the lawful holder of the note and mortgage and therefore was not…
Date: February 27, 2017
Docket Number: SCAP-13-00005234
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was a non-judicial foreclosure conducted pursuant to Haw. Rev. Stat. Chapter 667 Part I, which was repealed by the legislature by Act 182. Russell Hungate, the property owner, filed a complaint and…
Date: February 14, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-15-0000420
Date: February 1, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-11-0000065
Date: January 12, 2017
Docket Number: SCWC-12-0000711
