LIHU‘E — Good-faith settlements have been reached and approved in state court in various wrongful-death and property-damage cases regarding the March 2006 breach of Ka Loko Reservoir Dam near Kilauea. Eight people died, including an unborn baby, known in court
LIHU‘E — Good-faith settlements have been reached and approved in state court in various wrongful-death and property-damage cases regarding the March 2006 breach of Ka Loko Reservoir Dam near Kilauea.
Eight people died, including an unborn baby, known in court documents as Baby Doe McNees, and several of the bodies were never found as tons of water rushed seaward, taking out trees, homes and lives on the water’s way to Wailapa Stream, the Kilauea Stream and ocean.
“I’d say it’s a good day for justice,” said Teresa Tico, attorney for some of the victims’ families. The settlement is “very important” to her clients, who lost loved ones and for whom Thursday’s actions before 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe “finally brings closure,” said Tico.
Her clients have been very patient through the settlement process, but they didn’t actually believe the settlement agreements were going to be approved in the state courthouse in Lihu‘e Thursday, Tico said.
William McCorriston, attorney for dam owner James Pflueger, said Pflueger is happy to have the civil cases out of the way. Settlement was “a matter of social responsibility, community responsibility. Everybody thought it was fair.”
“In the final analysis,” the settlement is good for Pflueger, said McCorriston, who added that the plaintiffs should not have any trouble getting their settlement amounts from Pflueger.
The settlement wasn’t “a matter of legal responsibility or obligation,” but the right thing to do, said McCorriston, reiterating that Pflueger will “fight the criminal case vigorously,” and still feels he has been “unfairly scapegoated” in what still might be proven in court to have been an act of nature and not a negligent act of man or men.
Pflueger has been charged by the state with seven counts of manslaughter — one for each death, not including the unborn child. Pflueger is accused of being reckless in the way he modified the Ka Loko Reservoir, which failed in 2006 after 40 straight days of rain.
Terms of the settlement of most of the civil cases, and the probate cases on behalf of those who perished as millions of gallons of water rushed through the northern Wailapa Road residential neighborhood makai of Kuhio Highway south of Kilauea, are sealed and confidential by agreement of the parties and the court.
But the state and county shares of the settlement are expected to be made public, especially the state share, as it will require an appropriation of the state Legislature during the 2010 session beginning in January, said Kenneth Robbins, an O‘ahu private attorney representing the State of Hawai‘i at Thursday’s proceedings.
McCorriston said the manslaughter case against Pflueger is scheduled for trial before Watanabe in April 2010, but that many motions are expected to be heard as early as January, including a double-jeopardy motion.
An appeal of Watanabe’s decision to allow state Attorney General Mark Bennett to continue representing the state in the criminal case is pending before an O‘ahu appellate court, McCorriston said.
All told, there were 16 attorneys present in Watanabe’s court Thursday for a session that lasted 45 minutes.
Watanabe thanked the various attorneys for their professionalism and willingness to work together, and thanked mediators Keith Hunter and Warren Price. She said that, without the efforts of Hunter and Price, there would be no settlement.
“With this global settlement, it is hoped by this court that there will be closure for families who lost lives and property,” Watanabe said.
“This has been a difficult case for all of us,” said Robbins, thanking Watanabe for her work as well.
“It’s a very complex case. It was a tremendous tragedy,” said Robbins.
“The county’s attorney is reviewing the settlement and will reserve comment until that review is complete,” said Beth Tokioka, Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s executive assistant.
The deceased are Alan Gareth Dingwall, Daniel Jay Arroyo, Rowan Grey Makana Fehring-Dingwall, Aurora Solveig Fehring, Christina Michelle McNees (and Baby Doe McNees), Timothy Wendell Noonan Jr. and Carl Wayne Rotstein.
• Paul C. Curtis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
