LIHUE — The three defendants named in the civil rights lawsuit filed by Kauai County Councilman Tim Bynum have filed motions to dismiss the case this week, according to county officials.
Bynum named the county of Kauai, former prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho and planning inspector Sheilah Miyake in a lawsuit filed Sept. 19, 2012, seeking “an amount to be proven in trial” for general and special damages that he suffered.
Four months prior to filing the lawsuit, Bynum was cleared by the 5th District Court of misdemeanor charges against him stemming from alleged zoning violations on his Wailua home.
His lawsuit alleges the county acted maliciously and caused potential buyers for his home to pull out of the deal.
Bynum alleged political motivation for being criminally prosecuted by Iseri-Carvalho. After the court dismissed the charges against Bynum and he named her in his lawsuit, Iseri-Carvalho also alleged political motivation.
In the primary elections last August, Bynum came in eighth place in his bid for reelection, and faced losing his job if he didn’t improve at least a spot in the general elections.
Also in the primaries, in her bid for reelection, Iseri-Carvalho finished behind Justin Kollar, with 6,970 votes against her opponent’s 7,081 votes.
In the general elections in November, Bynum climbed a spot and got reelected, but Iseri-Carvalho lost by wide margin to Kollar. She received 9,514 votes, while Kollar had 14,290 votes.
In May, Iseri-Carvalho said at a council meeting she shouldn’t have been named a defendant in Bynum’s case and her attorneys would file a motion to dismiss the case against her in June.
County spokeswoman Beth Tokioka said Iseri Carvalho’s attorneys, as well as the county’s private attorneys, filed motions to dismiss the case Thursday.
Miyake’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case on Tuesday, according to Tokioka.
So far the total amount approved by the council for the three parties to use in private attorney fees to defend against Bynum total $461,000 (the council approved only $25,000 on a request May 8 for $75,000), according to Tokioka.
The county paid out $169,589.40 in attorney fees and has $86,509.31 in outstanding bills, she said.
A court hearing is scheduled to Oct. 28.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0452 or lazambuja@thegardenisland.com
