The parties involved Forest fire in Lahaina Lawsuits against the state of Hawaii, Maui County and energy providers are near settling claims totaling just over $4 billion, Governor Josh Green told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
Green said he hoped to have the small print in the approaching days, perhaps as early as August 6, two days before the first anniversary the fireplace that killed 102 people and worn out historic Lahaina.
“If that could happen, that would be great. I humbly urge all parties to get the deal done,” Green said in an interview in his office. “It looks like we’re almost there, and we’ve got just a tiny bit left to go.”
He said all plaintiffs and defendants had agreed to the worldwide settlement number, but final details were still pending.
More than 600 lawsuits have been filed over the deaths and destruction attributable to the fires. In the spring, a judge appointed mediators and ordered all parties to take part in settlement talks.
“Then, on July 18, 2024, the Court, like many others no doubt, learned for the first time details of what media reports said was a ‘global settlement,'” Judge Peter Cahill, who’s overseeing the coordination of the lawsuits, wrote in a schedule last week. “Those reports turned out to be premature.”
Cahill noted that he had not received any communication from either party “of an agreement, let alone of a global nature.” However, he also wrote that he had not been informed of an impasse within the negotiation process.
Jake Lowenthal, a Maui attorney who was chosen as one among five liaisons to coordinate the cases, said Wednesday: “There is no agreement yet.”
Hawaiian Electric Company spokesman Darren Pai said in an email that the mediation process is confidential and the corporate wouldn’t comment. Maui County didn’t reply to an email looking for comment.
Jim Bickerton, an attorney who filed the primary lawsuit against Bishop Estate – one among the landowners sued for allegedly failing to look after the vegetation that fueled the fireplace – declined to comment on the status of current negotiations. But he said, “Any settlement process would include an opportunity for those who have not yet hired attorneys or filed claims to have their claims reviewed.”
Green said he was in another country for several weeks but worked on the settlement while he was away because sending $4 billion to Lahaina would speed the community’s recovery. Settlements of wildfire lawsuits elsewhere are sometimes years lasted.
“As I observed other regions hit by such disasters, I learned that there was no settlement there for many years and people remained in a web of despair because they could not really recover,” Green said.
The victims could be insured, but that might never be enough, the governor said.
“I know the $3 billion coming from insurance is very helpful,” Green said. “But the additional $4 billion in compensation will hopefully allow people to rebuild as they see fit.”
In 2019, Pacific Gas and Electric settled all major claims related to the deadly Northern California wildfires of 2017-2018 for 13.5 billion US dollarsThe settlement resolved claims related to the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and burned a lot of the town of Paradise, in addition to the 2015 Butte Fire and Oakland’s Ghost Ship Fire in 2016.
Three years later, former PG&E executives and the administrators agreed to pay $117 million to settle litigation related to the 2017-2018 wildfires.
PG&E is the nation’s largest energy provider, serving roughly 16 million customers in Central and Northern California.
