Current:Home > InvestHawaii Supreme Court chides state’s legal moves on water after deadly Maui wildfire-InfoLens
Hawaii Supreme Court chides state’s legal moves on water after deadly Maui wildfire
View Date:2024-12-23 15:48:07
HONOLULU (AP) — The Hawaii attorney general’s office must pay attorney fees for using last year’s Maui wildfire tragedy to file a petition in “bad faith” that blamed a state court judge for a lack of water for firefighting, Hawaii’s Supreme Court ruled.
It seems the state “tried to leverage the most horrific event in state history to advance its interests,” the ruling issued Thursday said.
The day after the historic town of Lahaina burned in a deadly August fire, the state attorney general’s office, representing the Board of Land and Natural Resources, filed a petition alleging east Maui stream flow protections established by Judge Jeffrey Crabtree caused the water shortage.
“Naturally we paid attention,” said the unanimous opinion authored by Justice Todd Eddins. “The Department of the Attorney General initiated an original proceeding during an unthinkable human event. The petition advanced an idea that legal events impacted the nation’s most devastating wildfire.”
The Sierra Club of Hawaii complained the state exploited the tragedy to help a private company monopolize water, noting that east Maui reservoirs were of no use to west Maui, where a wildfire killed at least 101 people.
Maui County lawyers said they had more than enough water to fight the fires, the ruling noted.
A deputy attorney general refused to “walk back” the accusations, the ruling noted.
The state’s “refusal to withdraw the meritless assertions, the flimsiness of its request for extraordinary relief, and its use of the Maui tragedy, support a finding of frivolousness and bad faith,” the ruling said.
The attorney general’s office said in a statement it “disagrees with the court’s characterization and with its conclusions,” and later added it will comply with the order.
Sierra Club attorney David Kimo Frankel said he estimates disproving the state’s claims cost about $40,000.
The ruling comes the day after state Attorney General Anne Lopez released a report into the fires saying a broad communications breakdown left authorities in the dark and residents without emergency alerts.
veryGood! (63)
Related
- US Congress hopes to 'pull back the curtain' on UFOs in latest hearing: How to watch
- Meet the Country Music Icon Named The Voice's Season 24 Mega Mentor
- 'The Voice': Niall Horan gets teary-eyed with Team Reba singer Dylan Carter's elimination
- North Dakota woman accused of fatally poisoning her boyfriend hours after he received an inheritance
- Arbitrator upholds 5-year bans of Bad Bunny baseball agency leaders, cuts agent penalty to 3 years
- John Kirby: Israel has extra burden of doing everything it can to protect innocent lives in Gaza
- South Korea’s spy agency says North Korea shipped more than a million artillery shells to Russia
- Jana Kramer Claps Back at Rumors Her Pregnancy Is Fake
- 3 Iraqis tortured at Abu Ghraib win $42M judgement against defense contractor
- Watch this sweet, paralyzed pug dressed as a taxicab strut his stuff at a Halloween parade
Ranking
- Shel Talmy, produced hits by The Who, The Kinks and other 1960s British bands, dead at 87
- Blue Ridge Parkway closed near Asheville after visitors try to feed, hold black bear
- 4 Pennsylvania universities closer to getting millions after House OKs bill on state subsidies
- Lift Your Spirits With a Look at the Morning Talk Show Halloween Costumes
- College Football Playoff snubs: Georgia among teams with beef after second rankings
- Amnesty International says Israeli forces wounded Lebanese civilians with white phosphorus
- Finland convicts 3 far-right men for plotting racially motivated attacks using 3D printed weapons
- Texas man faces murder charge after doctor stabbed to death at picnic table
Recommendation
-
Eva Longoria calls US 'dystopian' under Trump, has moved with husband and son
-
One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson Addresses “Childish” Conspiracy Theories
-
'They touched my face': Goldie Hawn recalls encounter with aliens while on Apple podcast
-
Georgia child welfare leader denies she asked judges to illegally detain children in juvenile jails
-
Joey Graziadei Details Why Kelsey Anderson Took a Break From Social Media
-
Mississippi attorney general says 3 police shootings were justified
-
Tyler Christopher's General Hospital Family Mourns His Death in Moving Tributes
-
Why Denise Richards Doesn't Want Daughter Sami Sheen to Get a Boob Job