Report: Key Defendants Have Agreed To Settle Maui Wildfire Claims For $4 Billion
UPDATED: Gov. Josh Green says settlement is not final but that parties are working toward a resolution in the near future.
Hawaiian Electric Industries, the state of Hawaii, Maui County and Charter Communications have agreed to pay $4 billion to settle several hundred lawsuits filed on behalf of thousands of victims of Aug. 8鈥檚 Lahaina wildfires, Bloomberg News has reported, citing anonymous sources.
But the tentative settlement hasn鈥檛 been finalized and 鈥渃ould still fall apart,鈥 Bloomberg said.
UPDATE: Gov. Josh Green on Friday said there is no settlement.
“The Maui Wildfire settlement hasn鈥檛 been finalized yet but we are working on it 24/7 to reach a positive resolution in the very near future,” Green said in a statement. “There are some parties on the mainland that are simply asking for too much of the settlement, resources that I am insisting must go to those families who were devastated by the fire.”
“I will personally call them out by name next week if they hurt Hawaii鈥檚 people or block this settlement,” Green added.
The governor is on vacation traveling with his family, but said he is managing the effort with the state’s legal team.聽
The Bloomberg News report comes after weeks of talk of an impending deal, following extensive mediation sessions among parties in Los Angeles in late June. The mediators are of Honolulu and of Los Angeles.
Parties to the litigation have until Friday to say whether they will agree to terms of a global settlement proposed by the mediators, sources familiar with the process told Civil Beat. But according to the mediation process, the sources said, the proposed settlement will fall apart unless all parties sign on by the Friday deadline.
Hawaiian Electric Co. spokesman Jim Kelly said in a statement: 鈥淭he mediation process is ongoing and confidential and we鈥檙e not going to comment.鈥
Still, speculation of an impending settlement has been building for weeks, despite repeated statements by parties familiar with the talks that there simply is no deal. Lawyers told Maui Circuit Court Judge Peter Cahill that there was no settlement during a July 5 status conference to discuss how the court will handle the first trials, which are scheduled for November.
But when a Maui County Council committee on July 9 passed a resolution authorizing the Maui County Council to approve a global settlement. The full council is on whether to adopt the resolution.
People familiar with negotiations on Thursday emphasized an agreement was still not finalized.
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鈥淭here are discussions, but to my knowledge, nothing鈥檚 happened,鈥 said Rick Fried, a Honolulu attorney representing Maui County in wildfire litigation.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a done deal,鈥 said another person familiar with the settlement talks. 鈥淭he situation is very much in flux.鈥
The Friday mediation deadline could provide some certainty, the source said.
A central unanswered question is where the plaintiffs stand. There are dozens of lawyers, almost 500 lawsuits and thousands of potential plaintiffs, and any settlement would have to be agreed to by the plaintiffs.
Further complicating the situation, insurers from around the world have already paid billions of dollars in claims related to the fire, and the insurers have filed suit to get reimbursed for those claims. That鈥檚 set up the potential for tension between the plaintiffs and insurers fighting over the settlement money.
According to Bloomberg, insurance industry lawyers are seeking $2 billion from the settlement as reimbursement for the wildfire claims already paid. Plaintiffs have countered, offering $600 million to the insurers, Bloomberg reported, but didn鈥檛 say whether the insurers had accepted the offer.
But there鈥檚 also the more fundamental question of whether the plaintiffs are on board with the settlement. Bloomberg鈥檚 report didn鈥檛 say.
And Jesse Creed, a lawyer who serves as a liaison for plaintiffs, declined to comment.
Civil Beat鈥檚 coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.
