Arakaki v. Lingle

• Decision Date: 21 November 2003
• Docket Number: Civil No. 02-00139 SOM/KSC.
• Citation: Arakaki v. Lingle, 299 F.Supp.2d 1114 (D. Haw. 2003)
• Parties: Earl F. ARAKAKI, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Linda LINGLE in her official capacity as Governor of the State of Hawaii, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Hawaii

299 F.Supp.2d 1114

Earl F. ARAKAKI, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Linda LINGLE in her official capacity as Governor of the State of Hawaii, et al., Defendants.

Civil No. 02-00139 SOM/KSC.

United States District Court, D. Hawai`i.

November 21, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

H. William Burgess, Honolulu, HI, for Plaintiffs.

Mark J. Bennett, Attorney General, Honolulu, HI, for Linda Lingle, State Officials, Hawaiian Homes Commissioners.

Steven Miskinis, U.S. Attorney's Office, Honolulu, HI, for United States of America.

Sherry P. Broder, Honolulu, HI, for Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Robert G. Klein, McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon, Honolulu, HI, for Defendant-Intervenor SCHHA.

ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION OF STANDING ORDERS; ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFFS' RULE 54(b) REQUEST; ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS TO DISMISS PLAINTIFFS' CLAIM REGARDING THE HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS LEASE PROGRAM; ORDER DENYING REMAINDER OF DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS; ORDER DENYING THE UNITED STATES' MOTION TO STRIKE; ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE WHY THE CLAIMS OF SANDRA BURGESS, DONNA SCAFF, AND EVELYN ARAKAKI SHOULD NOT BE DISMISSED

MOLLWAY, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION.

The court's earlier rulings have left Plaintiffs with two claims based only on Plaintiffs' status as state taxpayers. One claim seeks to enjoin the State of Hawaii from appropriating state tax revenue for the Hawaiian Home Lands lease program administered by the Department of Hawaiian Homelands ("DHHL"), which is headed by an executive board known as the Hawaiian Homes Commission (comprised of Defendants Micah Kane, Wonda Mae Agpalsa, Henry Cho, Thomas P. Contrades, Quentin Kawananakoa, Herring K Kalua, Milton Pa, and John A.H. Tomoso) (collectively "HHC"). Plaintiffs' other claim seeks to enjoin the state from appropriating state tax revenue for programs administered by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and its trustees, Defendants Haunani Apoliona, Rowena Akana; Donald B. Cataluna; Linda Dela Cruz; Dante Carpenter; Colette Y.P. Machado; Boyd P. Mossman; Oswald Stender; and John D. Waihe`e, IV (collectively "OHA").¹

The court was scheduled to hear a first round of summary judgment motions concerning these two claims on September 8, 2003.² However, after the Ninth Circuit issued its decision in Carroll v. Nakatani, 342 F.3d 934 (9th Cir.2003), on September 2, 2003, the court vacated its earlier order dismissing the United States so that the impact, if any, of Carroll on claims against the United States could be discussed. The court then conducted a status conference on September 8, 2003, instead of a hearing on summary judgment motions.

At the status conference on September 8, 2003, the court scheduled a hearing on motions that the parties were invited to file based on Carroll:

We're going to have a hearing on November 17th. Any party may bring a motion that is confined to the impact, if any, of the Carroll decision on this case. So to the extent any party thinks that I should dismiss it or put something back in to the case that was dismissed, you have to bring a motion to that effect.

Transcript of Proceedings (Sept. 8, 2003) at 42. Five motions claiming to be based on Carroll were filed on October 14, 2003, 80 Fed.Appx. 552. In a sixth motion, the United States seeks to strike portions of Plaintiffs' reply in support of Plaintiffs' motion.

In the first motion, Plaintiffs ask this court to vacate the restrictions placed on Plaintiffs' standing in the court's earlier orders. Plaintiffs' motion is not one made necessary or appropriate by Carroll. The court seems Plaintiffs' motion to be one for reconsideration and denies the motion because it does not satisfy any condition for reconsideration. The court also denies Plaintiffs' alternative request for Rule 54(b) certification of the court's earlier decision limiting claims to those based on state taxpayer standing.

The second through fifth motions raise issues related to each other. In the second motion, the United States moves for dismissal, asserting that Plaintiffs lack standing to sue the United States. The United States argues that Carroll does nothing to affect the correctness of the court's earlier dismissal.

In the third motion, DHHL/HHC argues that, because Plaintiffs lack standing to pursue claims against the United States, Plaintiffs' claims challenging the Hawaiian Home Lands lease program created by the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act ("HHCA") must be dismissed. Under Carroll, the United States is a necessary party to such a challenge, but, the motion argues, Plaintiffs' state taxpayer standing does not give Plaintiffs standing to challenge the federal law that is a necessary part of any challenge to the Hawaiian Home Lands lease program.

In the fourth motion, OHA similarly argues that, under Carroll, the United States is an indispensable party to any challenge to the Hawaiian Home Lands lease program. OHA argues that, because Plaintiffs lack standing to bring suit against the United States, Plaintiffs' Hawaiian Home Lands lease program claims must be dismissed. OHA also argues that Plaintiffs lack standing to pursue their claims against OHA because those claims involve an analysis of the public land trust created by the Admission Act.

In the fifth motion, Defendants-Intervenors State Council of Hawaiian Homestead Association and Anthony Sang, Sr. (collectively "SCHHA"), argue that Plaintiffs' challenge to the Hawaiian Home Lands lease program is a nonjusticiable political question. SCHHA also contends that, under Carroll, Plaintiffs lack standing to pursue that claim.

The sixth motion, a motion to strike filed by the United States on November 7, 2003, argues that Plaintiffs' reply in support of Plaintiffs' motion raises issues in an untimely manner.

In this order, the court reiterates that state taxpayer standing only allows a plaintiff to challenge the state law underlying the expenditure of state taxes. The court has already ruled that state taxpayer status does not provide standing to challenge state statutes to the extent they do not involve state tax revenue. Thus, Plaintiffs' state taxpayer status does not allow Plaintiffs to challenge spending by DHHL/HHC and/or OHA that involves rental income or other money not derived from state tax revenue. Any success Plaintiffs may have in this lawsuit, therefore, will fall short of closing down entirely either DHHL/HHC or OHA, as neither relies entirely on state tax revenue.

Carroll teaches that any challenge to the lessee requirements of the Hawaiian Home Lands lease program necessarily involves a challenge to the Admission Act, which is a federal law. The court therefore grants Motions 2 through 5 in part, dismissing Plaintiffs' claim challenging the Hawaiian Home Lands lease program based on lack of standing. State taxpayer standing is too limited to permit a challenge to a federal law and therefore does not allow Plaintiffs to challenge the Hawaiian Home Lands lease program, which is mandated by both state and federal law. See W. Mining Council v. Watt, 643 F.2d 618, 631-32 (9th Cir.1981). This means that the United States, DHHL/HHC, SCHHA, and Defendant-Intervenors Hui Kako`o `Aina Ho`opulapula, Blossom Feiteira, and Dutchy Saffery (collectively "Hui Defendants") are dismissed from this case.

By this order, the court is not ruling that the Admission Act can never be challenged. The court can certainly envision claimants with standing to challenge the Admission Act, but any such claimant must have more than state taxpayer status. Such a claimant could possibly include, for example, someone who applied for a Hawaiian Home Lands lease and was turned down solely because he or she was not native Hawaiian. No Plaintiff in this case has shown any such standing.

The court denies the other portions of Motions 2 through 5. That is, the court rejects as moot OHA's argument that the United States is a necessary party to Plaintiffs' challenge to the use by OHA of ceded land revenue. Because state taxpayer standing does not extend to any challenge to use of revenue that is not tax revenue, the issue of who is a necessary party to any such challenge need not be addressed. The court has already ruled that Plaintiffs may not proceed on the basis that they are the beneficiaries of a public land trust. On this record, the court does not find persuasive OHA's contention that appropriations of state tax revenues for OHA are somehow required by the Admission Act. To the extent SCHHA argues that Plaintiffs' claims raise a political question, the court concludes that this argument does not arise as a result of the Carroll decision and is therefore beyond the scope of the current motions. Although the political question argument may possibly be raised by some party in another round of motions, presumably in a form different from the form already rejected by this court in an earlier order, that argument is premature given the schedule of motions instituted by this court.

Finally, because the claim against the United States has been dismissed, the court denies the United States' motion to strike (filed November 7, 2003) as moot.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW.

The standard of review for motions to dismiss has been set forth in this court's previous orders. That standard is incorporated herein by reference.

III. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND.

The background of this case has been set forth in this court's previous orders. It is restated herein only to provide context to the present motions.

A. DHHL/HHC's Hawaiian Home Lands Lease Program.

In 1921, Congress enacted the HHCA, 42 Stat. 108, setting aside about 200,000 acres of land ceded to the United States by the Republic of Hawaii and creating a program of loans and long-term leases for the benefit of "native Hawaiians."³ Rice v. Cayetano, 528 U.S. 495, 507, 120 S.Ct. 1044, 145 L.Ed.2d 1007 (2000).

In the Admission Act, Congress imposed certain requirements on Hawaii as conditions of statehood. See ...