Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 5, 1 May 2007 — Home Lands lawsuit [ARTICLE]

Home Lands lawsuit

A state judge has given the go-ahead to proceed to trial for a class-action lawsuit on behalf of more than 2,700 Hawaiian Home Lands applicants seeking eompensation from the state for the ongoing delays in receiving their homestead leases. The suit, whieh was first filed in 1999, alleges that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the state government breached their trust obligations to native Hawaiians by failing to plaee them on homesteads in a prompt and efficient manner consistent with their duties as trustees under the Hawaiian Homes Conunission Act. Tom Grande, one of the attorneys for the 2,721 beneficiaries participating in the case, said initial calculations show that they have waited an average of 20 years to get a homestead. "Some class members have waited more than 40 years, and some have died since the claims review process began," Grande said. Leona Kalima, Diane Boner and Raynette Nalani Ah Chong, who brought the original action, issued a joint statement saying, "We are very, very pleased that the case is moving forward. Many of our class members are older, some in their 70s and 80s. We only want the process to be completed in a way that is pono before more of

our class members pass away." Trial in the case is expected to start in October.