Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 1, 1 January 2004 — Ceded lands suit appeal planned [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ceded lands suit appeal planned

Office of Hawaiian Affairs attorneys are likely to appeal the recent dismissal of a lawsuit that OHA brought against the state last year over the non-pay-ment of revenues from the state's use of ceded lands for airport and other state activities. The suit charged that the state was in breach of its fiduciary duty to the Puhlie Land Trust. On Nov. 25, Circuit Judge Gary Chang sided with Deputy Attorney General Dorothy Sellers in deciding to dismiss the suit because there is no current state law defining a revenue distribution formula for ceded lands ineome. "Without that guidance," Chang said,

"the Court could not address the question of damages ... by whieh OHA's share ean be determined." But attorney Bill Mehe'ula, who represents OHA in the suit, said the state had acted in "bad faith," first by undermining a 1990 law that had set OHA's share of ceded land revenue and then by halting all payments to OHA. Some revenue payments were resumed last year by the Legislature and Gov. Lingle. In his ruling, Chang said that OHA should work with state legislators to "ultimately provide the remedy." Administrator Clyde Nāmu'o said that OHA will do just that, along with filing an appeal to overturn Chang's ruling. ■

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