“This global settlement of over $4 billion will help our people heal,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said in a Friday statement. “My priority as governor was to expedite the agreement and to avoid protracted and painful lawsuits so as many resources as possible would go to those affected by the wildfires as quickly as possible.”
Hawaii and its largest power company have a reached a tentative agreement to settle claims related to a wildfire that devastated the island of Maui late last summer.
According to NBC News, the proposed agreement will require the state and its co-defendants to pay more than $4 billion to compensate property damage and destruction. If approved, the settlement will resolve about 450 pending lawsuits.
“This global settlement of over $4 billion will help our people heal,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said in a Friday statement. “My priority as governor was to expedite the agreement and to avoid protracted and painful lawsuits so as many resources as possible would go to those affected by the wildfires as quickly as possible.”
Attorneys for some of the wildfire survivors suggested that the settlement—reached within a year—indicates the willingness of different parties to collaborate in providing families with the resources they need to begin rebuilding their lives.
“I think here was a commitment—from the courts, the defendants, the plaintiffs—to figure out a way to get as much compensation as possible [for] the victims of the fires,” said attorney Jesse Creed of the Panesh Shea Ravipudi law firm, which represents about 900 plaintiffs.
If the agreement is approved, almost half of the settlement amount will be paid by Hawaiian Electric, the state’s largest power provider and one of seven defendants named in the complaint.
“For the many affected parties to work with such commitment and focus to reach resolution in a uniquely complex case is a powerful demonstration of how Hawaii comes together in times of crisis,” Hawaiian Electric President and C.E.O. Shelee Kimura said in a statement.
“Achieving this resolution will allow all parties to move forward without the added challenges and divisiveness of the litigation process,” Kimura said. “It will allow all of us to work together more cohesively and effectively to support the people of Lahaina and Maui to create the future they want to see emerge from this tragedy.”
But some lawyers have criticized the settlement amount as inadequate. Gilbert Keith-Agaran, a Maui-based lawyer involved in the litigation, said that the amount is “woefully” insufficient for families who lost loved ones in the fire.
“We’re under no illusions that this is going to make Maui whole,” said Jake Lowenthal, another Maui-based attorney representing wildfire plaintiffs. “We know for a fact that it’s not going to make up for what they lost.”
Sources
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