Settlement payments can now start in a $328 million class action lawsuit filed by Native Hawaiians waiting for Hawaiian homestead land.
More than 2,500 class members have been affected by delays in financial transfers. They have been held up by an appeal in the Kalima v. State of Hawaiʻi case, which the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court dismissed Thursday.
Class members, most over the age of 70, have spent decades either homeless, some living on the beach, in poverty or living with family members while waiting for a homestead.
To be a class member, individuals must have applied for Hawaiian Homes by June 30, 1988, and applied to the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust Individual Claims Review Panel between 1991 and 1995.
The ruling in the Kalima case found the state violated its fiduciary duty to Hawaiian beneficiaries by withdrawing land from the trust, leasing it to private companies, losing beneficiary files, and more.
The lawsuit stems from a 1991 law allowing Native Hawaiians to file claims against the state for losses incurred while waiting for a homestead lease from 1959 to 1988. The Legislature created a panel to address claims but the existence of the panel wasn't extended past 1999. So the plaintiffs sued.
Carl Varady, co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the Kalima case, said that he’s pleased the appeal was resolved quickly so that payments can start for the 1,300 or so living class members.
"The court's action recognizes the significant public interest in having our clients paid for the breaches of trust they’d endured by having to wait for homesteads,” Varady said in a press release.
For the little more than 1,100 class members who have passed away over the past 20 years of litigation, payments will be made to their family members.
"These claims will be paid through a probate process that requires the probate court to approve the distribution to their heirs,” Tom Grande, who also represents the plaintiffs, stated in the release. He added that the process will take 18 months or longer to complete.
