Gov. Josh Green made his priorities clear when it came to compensation for those who were impacted by the devastating Maui wildfires in August 2023.
“I wanted to be very clear that my priority would be in that order: people who lost a loved one, then who lost their home,” he said earlier this summer, finalizing the state’s $800 million contribution to the $4 billion global settlement.
That’s so far been the case as some people have already started receiving payments through the separate $175 million One ʻOhana Fund, which was set up just a few months after the fire. It allowed those who lost a loved one or were severely injured to be compensated up to $1.5 million.
Maui lawyer Lance Collins, who represents fire victims, explained that the One ʻOhana Fund was a way to expedite payments.
“The One ʻOhana Fund was a mechanism that the governor came up with to basically settle the claims of people who had wrongful death or serious bodily injury claims, and to basically get them money as soon as possible," he said.
Twenty-two wrongful death and three injury claims have already been paid out through the One ʻOhana Fund. Several cases are still pending, but they will be finalized in the coming days as part of Phase 1.
Mikal Watts, an attorney also representing Maui victims, said that those who initially joined the One ʻOhana settlement can also join the global settlement and receive more, depending on various factors, including the age of the deceased.
“The governor's idea, he showed gubernatorial leadership three months after this fire, unlike anything I've ever seen, and so he put out a bunch of money, but it wasn't enough money, and everybody knew it. It was an interim payment,” he said.
“It got money in people's hands, and I applaud him for that … but it wasn't enough to pay for the full damages for those wrongful death cases. So over and above what they already got in the One ʻOhana Fund, they can make a claim to this settlement and get the difference.”
The fund will open up again in September to accommodate all the wrongful death and serious injury claims that are part of the global settlement.
The math behind the $4 billion global settlement
The $4 billion settlement is broken into two parts: individual plaintiffs and the class action.
There are well over 10,000 — and counting — individual plaintiffs who are filing a personal claim against the defendants, which include Hawaiian Electric, Kamehameha Schools and the state.
Those individual plaintiffs will get 97% of the $4 billion settlement.
The other 3% — about $135 million — will go toward the class action.
Collins explained that the class action is meant to act as a catchall for people who do not want to go through the individual claims process.
“In order for the defendants to settle, they want to know that someone isn't going to show up and sue them later,” he said. “So the purpose of the class action settlement is to basically sweep up all claims that are not individual plaintiff claims.”
The class action includes even those who were vacationing on Maui during the fire and may have lost their hotel reservation if they were not already compensated.
“I suspect that many of the claimants in the class action are going to be people that have significantly smaller claim amounts,” Collins said.
Meanwhile, the individual plaintiffs will need to submit claims to the court, which will be evaluated by the fund administrator over the next several months. The claims will likely exceed the amount available in the settlement.
In that case, Collins explained that the fund administrator will determine a ratio of how the funds will be disbursed.
“People will get paid out a ratio of what their claims are to how much money's available,” he said. “So if there are $8 billion worth of claims, but there's only $4 billion in the settlement. Then people will get 50% of their claims paid.”
Stanford University climate and energy expert Michael Wara explained that these types of settlements for wildfire victims usually take much longer to negotiate – but the speed comes at a price.
“Time matters for people. They cannot wait around five years, 10 years, whatever, while the lawyers argue with each other and they can't rebuild their house or they just don't even have the money to move on with their life, and so on that score, the settlement is very positive for victims,” he said.
“On the other hand, the settlement value is pretty low, and I think it really depends on how you think about that valuation.”
Most people will need to sign a release by Oct. 18 if they want to be an individual plaintiff.
If not, they’ll automatically become part of the class action. However, Collins advised those who haven’t yet reached out to an attorney to do so as soon as possible.
The timing of the global settlement is unclear, but organizers have a goal of initial payments by the end of the year.
