LIHUE — A federal lawsuit filed in Virginia against Chad Waters, and Tyler Greene, owners of Coco Palms Hui, LLC, and architect Ron Agor, has been dismissed.
According to court documents, the lawsuit was dismissed because the court lacks personal jurisdiction over all defendants, as the plaintiff’s complain lacks allegations that the defendants are subject to personal jurisdiction in Virginia.
“We are pleased with the decision and don’t have any other comment at this time,” said Pierce Murphy, associate attorney at Silverman Thomson, Slutkin and White, who defended Waters, Greene and Agor on the matter.
In a written statement to The Garden Island newspaper, Waters said with this and other frivolous legal actions behind them, Coco Palms Hui, LLC, is looking forward to refocusing on the job they started a number of years ago, completing the rebuild of Coco Palms Resort.
“As we stated from the beginning, the federal lawsuit filed by Virginia resident Ruthie Caudill was factually inaccurate and completely frivolous. As expected, the federal court in Virginia has granted our motion to dismiss,” Waters said.
Waters continued that Caudill has a well-known history of filing similar actions in court, that have all led to the same conclusion — dismissal.
“As far as we know, she has never been to Kauai or anywhere in the state of Hawaii for that matter,” Waters said. “Why she continues to harass us and the myriad of other people and entities on Kauai is a mystery to everyone.”
To this day, Waters said, Caudill continues to offer advice to anyone who listens to her.
“Her absurd legal notions are endless, her nonstop FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests have wasted thousands of hours of time for government agencies from the County of Kauai, USFWS, Army Corps and others. You name the government agency and good bet that she has harassed them for something,” Waters said.
The suit was filed in late march by Caudill, president of the Jacob Broom Society, and sought monetary damages in the amount of $3.5 million and alleged desecration of graves prevention of the Kanaka Maoli to freely practice their religion and the disruption of an endangered water bird habitat.
In an emailed statement to TGI, Caudill said she is planning on appealing the court’s decision. She said she initially filed the lawsuit to stop the desecration of the iwi and the destruction of United States Fish and Wildlife Services habitat and animals.
“I have already sent for the U.S. Supreme Court information, which I will get shortly in the mail,” Caudill said.
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Bethany Freudenthal, Courts, Crime and County reporter, 652-7891 or bfreudenthal@thegardenisland.com
