ThinkTech Hawaii: Gumming up 24-Year-Old Litigation (Talking Tax)

Saved by the Supreme Court. The hosts for this show are Mark Coleman and Tom Yamachika.

We discuss Kalima v. State, filed in 1999, which then concerned 2,515 beneficiaries of DHHL who sued the State over its handling of the Hawaiian homes program. After decades of litigation, the plaintiff class and the State reached a historic $328 million settlement.

And then one person wrote a letter to the Court. Bringing the entire process to a screeching halt.

What did our government do?

Could it have handled the process better or differently?

In the end, the Supreme Court of Hawaii jumped in and saved the day. Obviously we can’t expect the Court to do that all the time.