Supreme Court of Hawaii Decisions 2023
Date: December 29, 2023
Docket Number: SCAP-22-0000335
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involves a dispute between the City and County of Honolulu, acting through the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART), and Victoria Ward, Limited, over the amount of just compensation to be paid for…
Date: December 29, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-21-0000478
Justia Opinion Summary: In a case before the Supreme Court of Hawaii, the defendant, Kumulipo Iwa Coyote Sylva, was charged with second-degree murder for killing Eduardo Alejandro Cerezo. Sylva admitted to the killing but asserted the…
Date: December 26, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-21-0000530
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court of the State of Hawai'i affirmed the judgment of the Intermediate Court of Appeals upholding the conviction of Michael Pickell for operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant. The case…
Date: November 30, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-17-0000666
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) reinstating the jury's verdict and judgment for Tiare Franco's family (the Francos) after granting Sabio Reinhardt's motion to set aside…
Date: November 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-19-0000278
Date: November 14, 2023
Docket Number: SCCQ-22-0000658
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that, under Hawai'i law, an insurer may not seek reimbursement from an insured for defending claims when an insurance policy contains no excess provision for reimbursement, and furthermore, a…
Date: November 2, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-20-0000704
Date: October 31, 2023
Docket Number: SCAP-22-0000429
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the orders of the circuit court denying Defendants' motions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim in this action brought by the City and County of Honolulu and…
Date: October 26, 2023
Docket Number: SCPW-23-0000571
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court denied Petitioner's petition for a writ of mandamus challenging the final approval of the settlement in the underlying class action against the State, holding that Petitioner had no right to…
Date: October 18, 2023
Docket Number: SCPW-23-0000076
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court adopted conspiracy jurisdiction in this case in which three law firms petitioned the Court to order a judge to dismiss them from the underlying lawsuit, holding that the law firms demonstrated a "clear…
Date: October 4, 2023
Docket Number: SCAD-22-0000099
Date: October 2, 2023
Docket Number: SCOT-22-0000149
Date: October 2, 2023
Docket Number: SCOT-22-0000152
Date: September 20, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-21-0000281
Date: September 18, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-21-0000657
Date: September 13, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-21-0000395
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the circuit court's judgment, conviction, and sentence related to sentencing in this case, holding that the circuit court erred by not articulating a clear and comprehensive rationale for each…
Date: September 11, 2023
Docket Number: SCOT-22-0000149
Date: September 11, 2023
Docket Number: SCOT-22-0000152
Date: August 24, 2023
Docket Number: SCPW-23-0000471
Date: August 10, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-22-0000017
Date: August 3, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-18-0000844
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the orders of the family court refusing to set aside a default judgment it ordered in favor of Husband against Wife as a discovery sanction under Hawai'i Family Court Rule (HFCR) 37(b)(2),…
Date: May 19, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-17-0000092
Date: May 17, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-22-0000387
Date: May 17, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-22-0000388
Date: April 5, 2023
Docket Number: SCAP-21-0000701
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that the Office of the Auditor lacked the authority to pierce the attorney-client privilege and obtain an audit's confidential communications and rejected the Office of the Auditor's jurisdiction…
Date: April 5, 2023
Docket Number: SCAP-22-0000029
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the circuit court dismissing this action brought by Academic Labor United (ALU) requesting declaratory judgments that graduate assistants were foreclosed from exercising the…
Date: April 5, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-18-0000380
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) ruling that the circuit court did not err in ordering an appointed commissioner to take possession and collect rents and during the…
Date: April 4, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-19-0000522
Justia Opinion Summary: After recording a notice of default and intention to foreclose for unpaid assessments and costs, AOAO, a homeowners’ association, acquired the property by quitclaim deed in July 2015 after a non-judicial foreclosure…
Date: March 31, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-17-0000496
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the circuit court denying Appellant's Haw. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(6) motion for relief from a judgment of foreclosure, holding that the lender, James B. Nutter Company (JBNC),…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCAP-21-0000363
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed in part, reversed in part and vacated in part the judgment of the circuit court holding that Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi had violated Hawai'i's Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices law…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCAP-22-0000045
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the district court dismissing without prejudice the complaints in Appellees' cases, holding that the complaints did not have to comply with Haw. Rev. Stat. 805-1, and the State…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCOT-19-0000830
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the Land Use Commission (LUC) denying Petitioners' petition for a declaratory order challenging the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), holding that Haw. Rev. Stat.…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCRQ-22-0000118
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case challenging the constitutionality of administrative rules governing access to Mauna Kea's summit under Haw. Const. art XII, 7, the Supreme Court answered questions reserved by the Circuit Court of the Third…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-16-0000460
Justia Opinion Summary: In this criminal case, the Supreme Court held that the district court and intermediate court of appeals (ICA) erred in ruling that Defendant was not entitled to the requisite Miranda warnings when she was questioned by…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-16-0000559
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) holding that a plaintiff may not recover attorneys' fees under the private attorney general (PAG) doctrine from a private defendant even…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-18-0000475
Justia Opinion Summary: In this foreclosure dispute, the Supreme Court held that Haw. Rev. Stat. 514B-146(n) provides a scheme for distributing rents following a lender's foreclosure against an association and that the Association of Apartment…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-18-0000940
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) affirming the circuit court's judgment of conviction and sentence, holding that, contrary to Defendant's arguments on appeal, the…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-19-0000697
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the circuit court convicting Defendant for promoting prostitution in violation of Haw. Rev. Stat. 712-1203(1), holding that a reasonable juror could not have concluded that…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-20-0000175
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendants' convictions for attempted murder in the second degree, kidnapping, and other crimes but remanded the case for a new extended term sentencing hearing and resentencing, holding that…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-20-0000457
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) affirming the judgment of the circuit court granting the State's motion for revocation of probation and resentencing Defendant to five…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-20-0000481
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) affirming the judgment of the trial court denying Defendant's motion to correct the credit he received against his sentence, holding…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-20-0000485
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the ruling of the family court that the prosecution had proven that DM, a minor who stabbed another minor, had committed attempted assault in the first degree beyond a reasonable doubt, holding…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-21-0000316
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) vacating the family court's parental termination order in this case and remanding the action for a new trial, holding that Parents…
Date: March 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-21-0000364
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the decision of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) affirming order of the circuit court denying Defendant's motion to dismiss indictment against him, the court's judgment of conviction and…
Date: March 13, 2023
Docket Number: SCOT-22-0000418
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) rejecting the power purchase agreement between Hu Honua and the Hawai'i Electric light Company, Inc., holding that there was no error in…
Date: March 10, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-17-0000181
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court overruled Maha-ulepu v. Land Use Commission, 790 P.2d 906 (1990), superseded by statute, 2005 Haw. Less. Laws Act 205, 2-3 at 669-71, which held that a use not permitted under Haw. Rev. Stat.…
Date: March 9, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-16-0000798
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) determining that Hawai'i law did not require the joinder of Defendant's traffic offenses with his assault offense, holding that the ICA…
Date: March 9, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-18-0000922
Justia Opinion Summary: In this foreclosure proceeding, the Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) affirming the circuit court's order granting Deutsche Bank's motion for summary judgment on its complaint…
Date: March 8, 2023
Docket Number: SCCQ-21-0000462
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court answered two questions of law certified by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Hawai'i concerning a putative class action alleging wrongful foreclosure. Specifically, the Court…
Date: March 8, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-22-0000044
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the order of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) dismissing Appellant's appeal in this workers' compensation case for lack of a final, appealable order, holding that the ICA erred when it…
Date: March 8, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-26118
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions of two counts of murder in the second degree and the imposition of two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, holding that Defendant was not…
Date: March 7, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-20-0000431
Date: March 7, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-20-0000776
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decisions of the lower courts affirming the ruling of the Honolulu Police Commission that Louis Kealoha, Chief of Police for the Honolulu Police Department (HPD), was entitled to a defense…
Date: March 7, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-21-0000027
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) affirming the judgment of the district court ruling on a Haw. Rev. Stat. 604-10.5 petition to enjoin harassment (injunction petition)…
Date: March 6, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-21-0000098
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) affirming the order of the circuit court granting the motion for summary judgment filed by the Hawai'i Criminal Justice Data Center…
Date: March 3, 2023
Docket Number: SCAP-21-0000562
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the order of the circuit court dismissing the second "Felony Information and Non-Felony Complaint" brought by the State recharging Defendant after the circuit court dismissed the charging…
Date: February 22, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-17-0000234
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the opinion of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) reversing the order of the circuit court granting summary judgment in favor of Defendant in this insurance broker malpractice case, holding…
Date: February 15, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-18-0000099
Date: February 14, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-22-0000456
Date: February 14, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-22-0000457
Date: February 10, 2023
Docket Number: SCAP-19-0000714
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction and sentence for four counts, including murder in the second degree, holding that, under the circumstances of this case, there was no need for a "determination of death"…
Date: January 30, 2023
Docket Number: SCAD-22-0000099
Date: January 20, 2023
Docket Number: SCEC-22-0000707
Justia Opinion Summary: In this election contest, the Supreme Court entered judgment in favor of Defendants and against Plaintiffs as to all claims stated in the complaint, holding that Plaintiffs failed to establish a viable election challenge…
Date: January 17, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-20-0000650
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals' upholding Defendant's convictions for burglary in the first degree and other crimes, holding that the State caused an unreasonable delay in…
Date: January 6, 2023
Docket Number: SCWC-20-0000431
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