UPDATE: 2.24.25: HECO Wants $1 BILLION from Customers
Hawaiian Electric Co. wants customers to contribute $1 billion to a fund to help the utility pay claims related to future wildfires, such as the one that killed 102 people and destroyed much of Lahaina in 2023.
Do the Girl Math: 1 MILLION customers pay $1 BILLION to wildfire fund = $1,000 each or $4,000 for a family of four.
But labor organizations, the insurance industry, utility regulators and a long-time environmental activist have criticized the proposed bill to create the Wildfire Recovery Fund, calling it a benefit for HECO at the expense of ratepayers.
UPDATE 2.10.25: Took about a minute for the Hawai’i Supreme Court to rule that Hawai’i can RIPOFF Americans and insurance companies on mainland. We warned that Hawai’i Judicial System is corrupt (SEE: Judiciary in Hawai’i Cheats The Public).
BREAKING: In a remarkably quick ruling, the Hawai’i Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the $4 billion settlement of the Maui wildfire cannot be blocked by insurance companies.
The ruling means that the Maui circuit court can begin the process of finalizing individual payments to survivors and families of those who died.
Judges are appointed by the governor in Hawai’i — not elected by The People. Of course judges do what the governor wants now. This decision confirms that Hawai’i government is corrupt.
Although government officials in Hawai’i and Hawaiian Electric Co. (HECO) were warned beginning around 2014 by University of Hawai’i researchers of extreme fire danger on westside of Maui, they did nothing. Although California suffered the massive Camp Fire in 2018 that ignited due to downed electrical lines from high winds, Hawai’i officials and HECO did nothing. Although the National Weather Service on August 6, 2023 warned Hawai’i officials and HECO of extremely high winds, they did nothing.
UPDATE 2.7.25: StarAd reports, “Hawaii Supreme Court justices posed many exacting, and sometimes skeptical, questions Thursday to attorneys in a case pertaining to the validity of a $4 billion deal to settle Maui wildfire litigation.” HECO and Governor Green seek to cheat insurers.
On August 8, 2023, high winds knocked down at least one unsound HECO power pole and improperly insulated HECO electricity lines ignited fires. High winds quickly spread flames. The wildfire became a Fire Hurricane, as recently witnessed in California. Some 10,000 residents were left destitute, over 2,000 homes lost, at least 102+ human beings were killed. Lahaina residents unable to flee in cars or to the ocean were incinerated. Billions of dollars in damages.
HECO CEO Shelee Kimura immediately blamed Maui fire fighters. She sought to deflect liability from her company before all the facts were investigated. Maui County and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives concurred with numerous reports pointing to HECO as the cause of the fires. StarAd reported re-energizing of downed power lines sparked fatal Maui wildfire. Maui County sued.
HECO’s legal team from Cox Fricke LLP countersued:
While Lahaina was still smoldering, many, including the County of Maui, rushed to lay blame for the fire at the feet of Hawaiian Electric. But with time, the truth has emerged: it is the County of Maui that bears responsibility for the devastation done to West Maui on August 8 in numerous, often independent ways. By failing to act within its authority to curtail invasive vegetation, by failing to properly plan for an emergency, by fumbling the emergency response, and by other means described herein, the County caused this tragedy.
SECOND CIRCUIT
2CCV-23-0000238
24-MAY-2024
Dkt. 138 CCLAI
Joachim P. Cox, Randall C. Whattoff et al dissembled. With time, the truth did emerge: it was HECO’s faulty equipment that primarily is to blame. On December 21, 2024, CivilBeat reported:
“Utility does not dispute earlier findings its equipment started the fire that destroyed much of Lahaina in 2023.”
HECO now acknowledges official reports concluding that there was just one fire. CEO & president Shelee Kimura immediately claimed there were two fires after the disaster — without any proof or evidence. She misled the public, lied and deceived to protect her job and the corporation.
However, the so-called “afternoon fire” was a continuation of the morning fire. This revelation now conclusively refutes Kimura’s claim that Lahaina was ravaged by a second fire, started by a culprit other than HECO.
HECO Blames. SCE Acts Honorably
Possibly due to the greater sophistication of the California legal and public regulatory systems, Southern California Edison (SCE) said Thursday its equipment likely sparked a wildfire in Los Angeles that broke out the same day as two massive blazes in the area killed at least 29 people and destroyed thousands of homes. The Hurst Fire fortunately did not destroy any structures or result in any deaths, came in a required filing with state utility regulators.
The utility acknowledged last month that fire agencies are investigating whether its equipment may have started the Hurst Fire, which scorched about 1.25 square miles around the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles.
In a second filing, the utility said it is investigating whether an idle transmission line became energized and possibly sparked the deadly Eaton Fire, which devastated Altadena. There is no evidence at this time that SCE equipment was responsible for starting that blaze. The Eaton Fire killed at least 17 people and was fully contained last week.
HECO and Hawai’i Officials Seek to Cheat Insurance Companies
Without dispute, HECO and officials fucked up [see ClearHealthLife report]. They want mainland and international insurers to pay. Companies paid out or committed to pay some $3.2 BILLION in claims to Maui / Lahaina residents. Green wants the companies to settle for $600 MILLION … that’s $0.19 on the dollar.
Parties to the settlement, including fire victims and HECO, hope to settle the lawsuits. Insurance companies seek to be reinbursed — they want to sue HECO and others responsible to recoup some of their substantial losses. CivilBeat summarizes that the outcome could lead to higher insurance premiums, bankrupt utility or delay in payments to victims.
Would you take the loss? Aloha Spirit says, PAY WHAT WE OWE !!! Governor Green and HECO want to cheat others for his failure and the failure of his friends. Both StarAd and CivilBeat cover the settlement challenge.
State of Hawai’i, Maui County, HECO, Hawaiian Telcom, Kamehameha Schools and other defendants agreed to pay $4.04 billion to settle claims of hundreds of individual fire victims. They left out the insurance companies. Had the fire been an act of nature or god, insurance companies are responsible for the losses. Since HECO faulty equipment was found to be at fault, insurers are not responsible. Through subrogation, insurers can recover their losses.
Answers to three questions posed to five Hawai’i Supreme Court justices could soon determine the fate of a stalled $4 billion settlement for close to 10,000 Maui wildfire victims.
“As an initial matter, Subrogation Plaintiffs, as non-parties, object that this Court has authority to issue orders affecting their rights. “It is elementary that one is not bound by a judgment in personam resulting from litigation in which he is not designated as a party or to which he has not been made a party by service of process.”
Insurance Company Lawyers Debunk Green’s Fake Lahaina Fire Settlement [source]
Whether the deal will go forward for victims depends on insurers, who are not parties to the settlement, are denied the right to pursue their own lawsuits against several of the defendants, including HECO and Kamehameha Schools. Stakes are high!
Pay What We Owe
Insurance premiums are spiking across the nation due to all the extreme weather events. Hawai’i boasts of billion dollar annual public surpluses. Governor Green and the legislature promise lucrative tax cuts to local resident. Officials now seek to stiff insurers for billions in losses related to the Lahaina disaster. That’s not aloha, folks !!! Pay what we owe.
Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono
The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness
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Ko’olau of Kaua’i. I am the Defiant One
“I Believe We Can”
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