Current:Home > BackHawaii Gov. Josh Green tells AP a $4 billion settlement for 2023 Maui wildfire could come next week-InfoLens
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green tells AP a $4 billion settlement for 2023 Maui wildfire could come next week
View Date:2024-12-23 17:23:13
HONOLULU (AP) — The parties involved in Lahaina wildfire lawsuits against the state of Hawaii, Maui County and utilities are close to a global settlement of claims that will be worth a little over $4 billion, Gov. Josh Green told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Green said he’s hoping to finalize the details in coming days, perhaps as soon as Aug. 6, which would be two days before the one-year anniversary of the fire that killed 102 people and wiped out historic Lahaina.
“If that could happen, it would be great. I humbly invite all the parties to finalize the agreement,” Green said in an interview at his office. “It appears that we are almost there, and we only have a very tiny holdout remaining.”
He said all the plaintiffs and defendants have agreed to the global settlement number but final details are pending.
More than 600 lawsuits have been filed over the deaths and destruction caused by the fires. In the spring, a judge appointed mediators and ordered all parties to participate in settlement talks.
“Then on July 18, 2024, the Court, along with undoubtedly many others, learned for the first time details of what media reports purported to be a ‘global settlement,’” Judge Peter Cahill, who is overseeing the coordination of the lawsuits, wrote in a scheduling order last week. “These reports proved to be premature.”
Cahill noted that he hadn’t received any notice for any party “of any settlement let along one of a global nature.” However, he also hadn’t been informed of any impasse in the negotiation process, he wrote.
Maui County and Hawaiian Electric Company didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Green said he was traveling out of state for several weeks but ended up working on the settlement while he was away because bringing $4 billion to Lahaina would accelerate the community’s recovery. Settlements of wildfire lawsuits elsewhere have often taken years.
“As I watched other regions that have gone through these disasters, I learned that they didn’t reach settlement for many years, and that left people in a tangled web of despair because they couldn’t really recover,” Green said.
Victims would get insurance, but it was never enough, the governor said.
“I acknowledge that the $3 billion that’s coming from insurance is very helpful,” Green said. “But the additional $4 billion of settlement will hopefully make it possible for people to rebuild however they feel they need to.”
veryGood! (6768)
Related
- Horoscopes Today, November 9, 2024
- ‘China’s Erin Brockovich’ Goes Global to Hold Chinese Companies Accountable
- Germany’s Clean Energy Shift Transformed Industrial City of Hamburg
- Tom Brady romantically linked to Russian model Irina Shayk, Cristiano Ronaldo's ex
- Patricia Heaton criticizes media, 'extremists' she says 'fear-mongered' in 2024 election
- North Dakota governor signs law limiting trans health care
- From Antarctica to the Oceans, Climate Change Damage Is About to Get a Lot Worse, IPCC Warns
- Major Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Cancelled, Dealing Blow to Canada’s Export Hopes
- US inflation may have picked up in October after months of easing
- Key takeaways from Hunter Biden's guilty plea deal on federal tax, gun charges
Ranking
- Trump breaks GOP losing streak in nation’s largest majority-Arab city with a pivotal final week
- Report: Bills' Nyheim Hines out for season with knee injury suffered on jet ski
- Supreme Court extends freeze on changes to abortion pill access until Friday
- What’s an Electric Car Champion Doing in Romney’s Inner Circle?
- ‘Emilia Pérez’ wouldn’t work without Karla Sofía Gascón. Now, she could make trans history
- The Year Ahead in Clean Energy: No Big Laws, but a Little Bipartisanship
- We’re Investigating Heat Deaths and Illnesses in the Military. Tell Us Your Story.
- Sub still missing as Titanic wreckage site becomes focus of frantic search and rescue operation
Recommendation
-
Bo the police K-9, who located child taken at knifepoint, wins Hero Dog Awards 2024
-
Gerard Piqué Gets Cozy With Girlfriend Clara Chia Marti After Shakira Breakup
-
Fuzzy Math: How Do You Calculate Emissions From a Storage Tank When The Numbers Don’t Add Up?
-
MLB trade deadline tracker: Will Angels deal Shohei Ohtani?
-
Sister Wives’ Christine Brown Shares Glimpse Into Honeymoon One Year After Marrying David Woolley
-
Netflix crew's whole boat exploded after back-to-back shark attacks in Hawaii: Like something out of 'Jaws'
-
A Possible Explanation for Long COVID Gains Traction
-
Why Are Hurricanes Like Dorian Stalling, and Is Global Warming Involved?