County’s share of Ka Loko settlement is $7.5M

LIHU‘E — The County of Kaua‘i has agreed to pay $7.5 million for its portion of the Ka Loko global settlement, a county press release states. Of that amount, the county will be responsible for $250,000, with the balance to be covered by insurance proceeds.

“While the county believed it had viable defenses, joint and several liability applied in this case. Had the county lost at trial with the other defendants, we could have ended up having to pay almost everything, not just the percentage the jury assigned to us,” County Attorney Alfred Castillo said in the release. “Since this case had potentially huge damages, well in excess of our insurance limits, the county and its insurance carriers believed that settling was in the best interest of the county.”

Castillo also noted that the difference between the state’s portion of the settlement and the county’s had little to do with culpability, and instead reflected financial realities and state law regarding immunity.