Han v. Department of Justice

• Decision Date: 24 February 1993
• Docket Number: No. 92-00406 DAE.,92-00406 DAE.
• Citation: 824 F. Supp. 1480
• Parties: Lambert Kalani HAN, Christina K. Aki, Samuel L. Gomes, Patrick L. Kahawaiola'a, and Harold Uhane Jim, Uhane-Hemolele, Plaintiffs, v. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, William P. Barr, Attorney General, in his official capacity as head of the Department of Justice, United States of America; Warren Price, III, Attorney General, State of Hawaii, Hawaiian Homes Commission, Hoaliku L. Drake, in her capacity as Chairperson of the Hawaiian Homes Commission and individually, Andrew Apana, Nani Brandt, Ann Nathaniel, Dennis Kauahi, Edison Keomaka, Alvina Park, George Robertson, Walter Smith, Jr., individually and in their capacity as commissioners, Hawaiian Homes Commission; Department of Hawaiian Homes Lands, Louella O.W. Albino, Alexander R.W. Bishaw, Lorraine K. Borden, James A. Boswell, Miriam Brione, Louis Hao, Jr., Nancy Kahinu, Margaret E. Kalilkane, Evelyn K. Kanawaliwali, Emily W. Aki Swaba, Lottie Burrows, George R. Kahinu, Jr., Jon Naeole, Weymouth, Arthur Kaai, Frances Manuel, Clara K. Ku, Martha Naeole, Danny Kekahuna, Alice Demello, Sue Ann Hasegawa, John Kelly, Jane Susan Leilani Goveia, individually and in their capacity as lessees on the Hawaii Homestead Program, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Hawaii

824 F. Supp. 1480

Lambert Kalani HAN, Christina K. Aki, Samuel L. Gomes, Patrick L. Kahawaiola'a, and Harold Uhane Jim, Uhane-Hemolele, Plaintiffs, v. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, William P. Barr, Attorney General, in his official capacity as head of the Department of Justice, United States of America; Warren Price, III, Attorney General, State of Hawaii, Hawaiian Homes Commission, Hoaliku L. Drake, in her capacity as Chairperson of the Hawaiian Homes Commission and individually, Andrew Apana, Nani Brandt, Ann Nathaniel, Dennis Kauahi, Edison Keomaka, Alvina Park, George Robertson, Walter Smith, Jr., individually and in their capacity as commissioners, Hawaiian Homes Commission; Department of Hawaiian Homes Lands, Louella O.W. Albino, Alexander R.W. Bishaw, Lorraine K. Borden, James A. Boswell, Miriam Brione, Louis Hao, Jr., Nancy Kahinu, Margaret E. Kalilkane, Evelyn K. Kanawaliwali, Emily W. Aki Swaba, Lottie Burrows, George R. Kahinu, Jr., Jon Naeole, Weymouth, Arthur Kaai, Frances Manuel, Clara K. Ku, Martha Naeole, Danny Kekahuna, Alice Demello, Sue Ann Hasegawa, John Kelly, Jane Susan Leilani Goveia, individually and in their capacity as lessees on the Hawaii Homestead Program, Defendants.

No. 92-00406 DAE.

United States District Court, D. Hawaii.

February 24, 1993.

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Kenneth W. Carlson, Kilauea, HI, for plaintiffs.

Thomas A. Helper, Asst., U.S. Atty's Office, Honolulu, HI, Ellen M. Athas, Environment and Natural Resources Div., Gen. Litigation Section, Washington, DC, for defendants Dept. of Justice, William P. Barr, Atty. Gen. and U.S.

Warren Price, III, Atty. Gen., HI, Steven S. Michaels, Girard D. Lau, George Kaeo, Clayton Lee Crowell, Atty. Gen. — State of HI, Robert A. Marks, Atty. Gen. of HI, Dept. of Atty. Gen., Honolulu, HI, for defendants Warren Price, III, Atty. Gen., State of HI, Hoaliku L. Drake, Hawaiian Homes Com'n, Andrew Apana, Nani Brandt, Ann Nathaniel, Dennis Kauahi, Edison Keomaka, Alvina Park, George Robertson, Walter Smith, Jr., Dept. of Hawaiian Homes Lands. Wallace S. Fujiyama, Colbert M. Matsumoto, Ward F.N. Fujimoto, Fujiyama, Duffy & Fujiyama, Honolulu, HI, for defendants Louella O.W. Albino, Alexander R.W. Bishaw, Lorraine K. Borden, James A. Boswell, Miriam Brione, Louis Hao, Jr., Nancy Kahinu, Margaret E. Kalilkane, Evelyn K. Kanawaliwali, Emily W. Aki Swaba, Lottie Burrows, George R. Kahinu, Jr., Weymouth, Arthur Kaai, Frances Manuel, Clara K. Ku, Martha Naeole, Alice Demello, Jane Susan Hasegawa, John Kelly, Jane Susan Leilani Goveia, lessees on the Hawaii Homestead Program.

ORDER DISMISSING ACTION

DAVID ALAN EZRA, District Judge.

The court heard the following motions on February 16, 1993: the motion to dismiss of The Department of Justice, William P. Barr, Attorney General, and the United States of America ("federal defendants"); the motion for judgment on the pleadings or, in the alternative, for summary judgment of Warren Price III, Attorney General, the State of Hawaii, the Hawaiian Homes Commission, the Chairperson and members of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands ("state defendants"); the motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment (filed December 8, 1992) of the individual lessees in the Hawaiian Homestead Program¹ ("lessee defendants"); the lessee defendants' motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment (lack of subject matter jurisdiction, res judicata, and/or collateral estoppel); and the lessee defendants' motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for a stay of proceedings.

Kenneth W. Carlson, Esq. appeared on behalf of the plaintiffs; Thomas Helper, Assistant United States Attorney, appeared on behalf of the federal defendants; Girard D. Lau, Deputy Attorney General, appeared on behalf of the state defendants; and Ward F.N. Fujimoto, Esq. appeared on behalf of the lessee defendants.

After reviewing the motions and the supporting and opposing memoranda, the court grants the federal defendants' motion to dismiss, grants the state defendants' motion for summary judgment, and grants the lessee defendants' motion to dismiss.

BACKGROUND

In 1921, Congress enacted the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act ("Commission Act"), Pub.L. No. 67-34, 42 Stat. 108 (1921), which set aside over 200,000 acres of land (the Hawaiian home lands) to be used for the welfare and rehabilitation of native Hawaiians. The Commission Act created the Hawaiian Homes Commission ("Commission"), which was given the power to lease the home lands to native Hawaiians at nominal rates as part of the Hawaiian Homestead program.

When Congress admitted Hawaii into the Union in 1959, the United States conveyed title to the Hawaiian home lands to the State of Hawaii and transferred responsibility for the administration of the home lands to the state. See Hawaii Admission Act ("Admission Act"), Pub.L. No. 86-3, §§ 4, 5(b), 73 Stat. 4, 5 (1959). Under the Admission Act, these public lands were to be held by the state "as a public trust for . . . the betterment of the conditions of native Hawaiians, as defined in the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended." Id. § 5(f). Use of the home lands for "any other object shall constitute a breach of trust for which suit may be brought by the United States." Id.

In accordance with § 4 of the Admission Act, the State of Hawaii adopted the Commission Act as a provision of the state constitution. Haw. Const. art. XII. The express terms of the Admission Act prohibit "the encumbrances authorized to be placed on Hawaiian home lands by officers other than those charged with the administration of the Act" from being increased and "the qualifications of lessees" from being changed without the consent of the United States. Id. § 4.

Numerous lessees of Hawaiian home lands, the lessee defendants, have entered into third-party agreements ("TPAs") with nonnative Hawaiians for the commercial farming or grazing of their lands. The Commission reviewed and approved the TPAs. Plaintiffs, including lessees of Hawaiian home lands, applicants for Hawaiian home lands, and a native Hawaiian advocacy organization, filed the instant action to challenge the TPAs.

The defendants fall into three general categories. First, plaintiffs claim the native Hawaiian lessee defendants violated the Commission Act, as well as plaintiffs' rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, by subleasing Hawaiian home lands to non-native Hawaiians. Complaint at ¶¶ 4(i), 11, 20. Second, plaintiffs allege the state defendants have violated the Commission Act, breached their trust responsibilities under the Admission Act, and deprived plaintiffs of their rights in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by approving the TPAs. Complaint at ¶¶ 19-22. Third, plaintiffs allege the federal defendants have a trust and/or a fiduciary duty to the native Hawaiian population to enforce the Commission and Admission Acts which they breached by failing to bring an action to stop the TPAs. Complaint ¶¶ 13-15, 19.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

A motion to dismiss will be granted where the plaintiff fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). A complaint should not be dismissed unless it appears to a certainty that plaintiff can prove no set of facts which would entitle the plaintiff to relief. Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 326-27, 109 S.Ct. 1827, 1832, 104 L.Ed.2d 338 (1989); Fidelity Fin. Corp. v. Federal Home Loan Bank, 792 F.2d 1432, 1435 (9th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1064, 107 S.Ct. 949, 93 L.Ed.2d 998 (1987); Stender v. Lucky Stores, Inc., 766 F.Supp. 830, 831 (N.D.Cal.1991). All allegations of material fact are taken as true and construed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Stender, 766 F.Supp. at 831.

Rule 12(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides in part as follows:

After the pleadings are closed but within such time as not to delay the trial, any party may move for judgment on the pleadings. . . .

A dismissal on the pleadings is proper only if the moving party is clearly entitled to prevail. Doleman v. Meiji Mutual Life Ins. Co., 727 F.2d 1480, 1482 (9th Cir.1984). All allegations of fact of the opposing party are accepted as true. Id. Generally, the court is unwilling to grant dismissal pursuant to Rule 12(c) "unless the movant clearly establishes that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Id. (quoting Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil § 1368).

If "matters outside the pleadings are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment." Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b), (c). Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The moving party has the initial burden of demonstrating for the court that there is no genuine issue of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (citing Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970)). However, the moving party need not produce evidence negating the existence of an element for which the opposing party will bear the burden of proof at trial. Id. 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. at 2552.

Once the movant has met its burden, the opposing party has the affirmative burden of coming forward with specific facts evidencing a need for trial. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). The opposing party cannot stand on its pleadings, nor simply assert that it will be able to discredit the movant's evidence at trial. See T.W. Elec. Serv., Inc. v. Pacific Elec. Contractors Ass'n, 809 F.2d 626, 630 (9th Cir. 1987); Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). There is no genuine issue of fact "where the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party." Matsushita Electric Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574,...