81 Hawai'i 474, Bush v. Watson

• Decision Date: 24 May 1996
• Docket Number: No. 19154,19154
• Citation: 81 Hawaii 474,918 P.2d 1130
• Parties: 81 Hawai'i 474 Leiff Koa BUSH, Martin D.L. Kahae, Colette Y. Machado and Kelson "Mac" Poepoe, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Kali WATSON, in his official capacity as Chairperson of the Hawaiian Homes Commission; Andrew Apana, Nani Brandt, Dennis Kauahi, Robert McFarland, Ann Nathaniel, Alvina Park, George Robertson, and Patrick Sheehan, in their official capacities as members of the Hawaiian Homes Commission; Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Hawaiian Homes Commission; Louella O.W. Albino, Alexander R.K. Bishaw, Lorraine K. Borden, James A. Boswell, Miriam K. Briones, Louis Hao, Jr., Nancy Kahinu, Evelyn K. Kanawaliwali, Emily W. Aki Swaba, George R.P. Kahinu, Jr., Jon K. Naeole, Dayna L. Naeole, Georgina K.K. Naeole, Weymouth Kamakana, John E. Kelly, Lottie Burrows, Arthur K. Kaai, Daniel Kekahuna, Alice K. Demello, Sue Ann M.M. Hasegawa, Priscilla Holokai, Wayne Naeole and Williamette P. Neuhart; Larry Jefts, William F. Pfeil, Hawaiian Research, Ltd., Grant Schule, Seizen J. Bonk, Nafetalai Oto, Frances I. Kalelikane, Herman K. Puaa, Lorraine M. Vincent, Lillian K. Akina, Ronald K. Akina, Henrietta M. Davis, Matthew K. Adolpho, Jr., and Julia Keliikuli-Peters, Defendants-Appellees, Mary K. Mamuad, John K. Kapu, III, Tomi Lou Mamuad, or their Successors and Assigns; John Does 1 through 100, Doe Corporations 1 through 100 and Doe Governmental Agencies 1 through 100, Defendants.
• Court: Hawaii Supreme Court

Page 1130

918 P.2d 1130

81 Hawai'i 474

Leiff Koa BUSH, Martin D.L. Kahae, Colette Y. Machado and Kelson "Mac" Poepoe, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Kali WATSON, in his official capacity as Chairperson of the Hawaiian Homes Commission; Andrew Apana, Nani Brandt Dennis Kauahi, Robert McFarland, Ann Nathaniel, Alvina Park George Robertson, and Patrick Sheehan, in their official capacities as members of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Hawaiian Homes Commission; Louella O.W. Albino, Alexander R.K. Bishaw Lorraine K. Borden, James A. Boswell, Miriam K. Briones, Louis Hao, Jr., Nancy Kahinu, Evelyn K. Kanawaliwali, Emily W. Aki Swaba, George R.P. Kahinu, Jr., Jon K. Naeole, Dayna L. Naeole, Georgina K.K. Naeole, Weymouth Kamakana, John E. Kelly, Lottie Burrows, Arthur K. Kaai, Daniel Kekahuna, Alice K. Demello, Sue Ann M.M. Hasegawa, Priscilla Holokai, Wayne Naeole and Williamette P. Neuhart; Larry Jefts, William F. Pfeil, Hawaiian Research, Ltd., Grant Schule, Seizen J. Bonk, Nafetalai Oto, Frances I. Kalelikane, Herman K. Puaa, Lorraine M. Vincent, Lillian K. Akina, Ronald K. Akina, Henrietta M. Davis, Matthew K. Adolpho, Jr., and Julia Keliikuli-Peters, Defendants-Appellees, Mary K. Mamuad, John K. Kapu, III, Tomi Lou Mamuad, or their Successors and Assigns; John Does 1 through 100, Doe Corporations 1 through 100 and Doe Governmental Agencies 1 through 100, Defendants.

No. 19154.

Supreme Court of Hawaii.

May 24, 1996.

Reconsideration Denied July 8, 1996.

Carl C. Christensen and Paul F.N. Lucas (Alan T. Murakami and Arnold L. Lum with them on the briefs of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation), Honolulu, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Steven S. Michaels (Girard D. Lau, with him on the brief), Deputy Attorneys General, Honolulu, for State-appellees.

Ward F.N. Fujimoto of Fujiyama, Duffy & Fujiyama, Honolulu, for lessee defendants-appellees.

Thomas E. Cook of Lyons, Brandt, Cook & Hiramatsu, Honolulu, for contracting defendants-appellees.

Before MOON, C.J., and KLEIN, LEVINSON, NAKAYAMA and RAMIL, JJ.

KLEIN, Justice.

Plaintiffs-Appellants Leiff Koa Bush, Martin D.L. Kahae, Colette Y. Machado, and Kelson "Mac" Poepoe (Appellants) appeal the second circuit court's order granting summary judgment in favor of the Defendants-Appellees and amended judgment dismissing the Appellants' claims with prejudice. The Appellants' complaint sought (1) a declaration that certain third party agreements (TPAs) ¹ are contrary to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (HHCA) ² and (2) an injunction barring homestead lessees from entering into such agreements with non-Hawaiians.

I. BACKGROUND

Appellants Bush, Kahae, Poepoe, and Machado are native Hawaiian beneficiaries of the HHCA living on the island of Moloka'i. Bush, Kahae, and Poepoe live on, cultivate crops on, and/or raise livestock on homestead lots in Ho'olehua, Moloka'i under the HHCA. ³ Machado resides in Puko'o, Moloka'i; she is on the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands' (DHHL) Moloka'i waiting list and seeks to obtain a residential and agricultural homestead lot at Ho'olehua.

From 1980 to 1992, Larry Jefts and other non-Hawaiian farmers entered into TPAs with a number of native Hawaiian lessees on Moloka'i whereby the non-Hawaiian third parties contracted to use the lessees' crop acres for farming or pastoral purposes. The native Hawaiian lessees in turn received compensation in the form of monthly payments ranging from $120.00 to $200.00. Jefts and other third party non-Hawaiian farmers thereby contracted for the use of a number of leaseholds, accumulating considerable acreage upon which to facilitate large scale agribusiness. By the time Appellants petitioned to the Hawaiian Homes Commission (HHC) to protest these agreements, Jefts had amassed close to 495 acres, which included approximately thirteen different leaseholds.

On May 19, 1992, the HHC approved various TPAs. Although the Appellants were not present during these proceedings, ⁴ they did participate in a June 30, 1992 proceeding during which the HHC voted to reaffirm the legality of the TPAs and deny Bush and Kahae's requests for a contested case hearing. In a previous case, we held that the courts lacked subject matter jurisdiction under Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 91-14(a) (1993) to review Bush and Kahae's claims. Bush v. Hawaiian Homes Comm'n [Bush I ], 76 Hawai'i 128, 136-37, 870 P.2d 1272, 1281 (1994). However, we observed that the "Appellants are not barred from contesting the Commission's actions through alternative means[.]" Id. at 137, 870 P.2d at 1281.

On May 4, 1994, the Appellants filed the present action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1988), ⁵ challenging the legality of the twenty-one TPAs approved by the Commission in 1992 and other "de facto" TPAs that had not yet been submitted to the Commission for approval. The complaint named the chairperson and commissioners of the HHC, the HHC and the DHHL (collectively "State Appellees"), thirty native Hawaiian lessees of homestead lots (Lessee-Appellees), and six persons who entered into TPAs granting them use of agricultural homestead lots (Third-Party-Appellees).

The circuit court dismissed the Appellants' claims against the State Appellees on the basis of sovereign immunity and parallel federal litigation raising identical challenges to the TPAs. See Han v. Dep't of Justice, 824 F.Supp. 1480, 1489 (D.Haw.1993), aff'd, 45 F.3d 333 (9th Cir.1995). The court also granted the State Appellees' motion for summary judgment and the Lessee-Appellees and Third-Party-Appellees' joinders therein. After we issued a June 13, 1995 order dismissing the Appellants appeal as premature, see Jenkins v. Cades Schutte Fleming & Wright, 76 Hawai'i 115, 869 P.2d 1334 (1994), the circuit court entered an ex parte order amending its judgment and dismissing "with prejudice" all of the claims against all of the defendants.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

"We review the circuit court's award of summary judgment de novo under the same standard applied by the circuit court." Maguire v. Hilton Hotels Corp., 79 Hawai'i 110, 112, 899 P.2d 393, 395 (1995). Summary judgment is appropriate if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id.

The standard of review for statutory construction is well-established. The interpretation of a statute is a question of law which this court reviews de novo. In addition, our foremost obligation is to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the legislature, which is to be obtained primarily from the language contained in the statute itself. And where the language of the statute is plain and unambiguous, our only duty is to give effect to its plain and obvious meaning.

State v. Baron, 80 Hawai'i 107, 113, 905 P.2d 613, 619, reconsideration granted in part and denied in part, 80 Hawai'i 187, 907 P.2d 773 (1995) (citation and brackets omitted).

III. DISCUSSION

The Appellants assert that their claims are not barred under the doctrine of sovereign immunity and that the HHC violated its trust duties by failing to represent the interests of those Hawaiians who want to become economically self-sufficient on homestead land. The Appellees counter that: 1) the Appellants' claims were properly dismissed on sovereign immunity and justiciability grounds; 2) the Appellants did not have standing; and 3) the TPAs do not violate the HHCA or the State's implied trust duties under the HHCA. ⁶ A. Jurisdictional Challenges

1. Standing

Relying upon Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992), the Appellees argue that the Appellants do not have standing because they failed to show how a favorable ruling would redress their harm and neglected to submit proof tracing any losses to the specific actions of third parties. This argument is without merit.

We did not expressly decide the question of standing in Bush I. ⁷ Nevertheless, in Han v. Dept. of Justice, 824 F.Supp. 1480 (D.Haw.1993), aff'd, 45 F.3d 333 (9th Cir.1995), the United States District Court for the District of Hawai'i found that plaintiffs who brought a substantially similar claim had standing to challenge these TPAs. 824 F.Supp. at 1487. Moreover, we have consistently held that standing barriers should be lowered in cases of public interest under our jurisdiction. See, e.g., Aged Hawaiians v. Hawaiian Homes Comm'n, 78 Hawai'i 192, 204-05, 891 P.2d 279, 291-92 ("federal justiciability standards are inapplicable in state court declaratory judgment actions involving matters of great public importance"), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 77, 133 L.Ed.2d 36 (1995); Pele Defense Fund v. Paty, 73 Haw. 578, 592, 837 P.2d 1247, 1257 (1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 918, 113 S.Ct. 1277, 122 L.Ed.2d 671 (1993); Life of the Land v. Land Use Comm'n, 63 Haw. 166, 176, 623 P.2d 431, 439 (1981) (the "touchstone" of our standing requirements is the "needs of justice"). See also Public Access Shoreline Hawaii v. Hawai'i County Planning Comm'n, 79 Hawai'i 425, 434 n. 15, 903 P.2d 1246, 1255 n. 13 (1995) (recognizing, with respect to native Hawaiian issues, "the need to avoid foreclosing challenges to administrative determinations through restrictive applications of standing requirements") (internal quotations, brackets, and citations omitted), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 1559, 134 L.Ed.2d 660 (1996).

As a general rule, whether a party has standing is measured by the three part "injury in fact" test: (1) he or she has suffered an actual or threatened injury as a result of the defendant's wrongful conduct, (2) the injury is fairly traceable to the defendant's actions, and (3) a favorable decision would likely provide relief for a plaintiff's injury. Pele, 73 Haw. at 594, 837 P.2d at 1258 (holding that the plaintiffs had standing to bring a...