Dead in the Water:<\/b> Queen\u2019s Treasure<\/i> — the 65-foot luxury catamaran custom-built for Ka`anapali Tours, LLC — won\u2019t be plying the Ka`anapali coast any time soon.<\/p>\n
On December 21, U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi issued an order vacating the jury trial, set for January 8, on a complaint KTL filed against the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, three of its staff, and the Board of Land and Natural Resources. The complaint sought to force the DLNR to allow KTL to sail Queen\u2019s Treasure<\/i> under its permit with the department\u2019s Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation.<\/p>\n
Years ago, in a messy, convoluted, and possibly illegal transaction, KTL acquired a one-of-a-kind permit that appeared to allow the company to operate either a monohull or multihull vessel in waters off Ka`anapali. This was despite the fact that multihull (catamaran) permits for Ka`anapali are subject to a waiting list, and KTL was not at the top of the list at the time.<\/p>\n
When, in 2011, DOBOR prevented KTL from making Queen\u2019s Treasure<\/i> its vessel of record, the company sued, noting that the division had repeatedly renewed the permit.<\/p>\n
In January 2012, Judge Kobayashi denied KTL\u2019s motion for a preliminary injunction against the DLNR that would allow Queen\u2019s Treasure<\/i> to operate pending the outcome of the jury trial. In her order, she found that DOBOR did not have to honor the terms of an erroneously issued permit. (DOBOR has since allowed the permit to expire.)<\/p>\n
In the months that followed, the state parties sought a summary judgment on the case and sought to remove the DOBOR staffers, in their individual capacities, as defendants.<\/p>\n
Kobayashi heard arguments on the state\u2019s motions on December 10. Later that month, she granted the motions, at least with regard to KTL\u2019s state law claims and the state\u2019s claim that the DOBOR staffers have immunity from prosecution for performing their official duties.<\/p>\n
The latter decision, she wrote, \u201cprecludes any claim for damages, leaving only prospective injunctive relief as to the state Defendants. These claims, however, are MOOT because the Court cannot grant the relief requested because the Plaintiff no longer has the permit at issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kobayashi withheld opining on KTL\u2019s allegation that the state defendants retaliated against the company by refusing to renew the permit. KTL \u201cnever amended the complaint to include claims based on the non-renewal,\u201d she wrote, adding that KTL could file such claims in a separate action.<\/p>\n
For more on this case, read our February cover story, \u201cPermitting Missteps Threaten to Unravel Commercial Boating Regime at Ka`anapali,\u201d and our March New & Noteworthy column. Both are available at https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Mud Fine Upheld:<\/b> On December 21, the Intermediate Court of Appeals affirmed a 5th Circuit Court denial of Pila`a 400, LLC\u2019s appeal of a $4 million fine imposed by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources for damages to Pila`a Bay resulting from a 2001 mudslide.<\/p>\n The ICA found Pila`a 400\u2019s arguments unclear, misplaced, inadequate or just plain wrong. Contrary to the company\u2019s claims, the Land Board had provided adequate notice of the scope of the contested case hearing that resulted in the fine, the board\u2019s findings were clear, it had the authority to impose the fine, and a federal consent decree addressing Clean Water Act violations stemming from the mudslide did not bar the Land Board from pursuing its own damages, the ICA found.<\/p>\n In his concurring opinion, acting associate judge and former Land Board chair Mike Wilson expanded on the court\u2019s finding that the board may consider intrinsic value when calculating damages to the state\u2019s natural resources. Pila`a 400, owned by James Pflueger, had argued that the Land Board couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Wilson admitted that something like natural beauty \u201cis not susceptible to valuation based on price in the marketplace,\u201d adding, \u201cThe value of Hawai\u2019i\u2019s forests is not the market value of its board feet. The value of Hawai`i\u2019s coral reefs is different from the value of its harvest.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, state law empowers the Land Board to consider \u201cany factor it deems appropriate\u201d in imposing fines and seeking damages, including \u201cthe loss of the natural resource to its natural habitat and environment and the cost of restoration or replacement,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n — Teresa Dawson<\/i><\/p>\n Dead in the Water: Queen’s Treasure — the 65-foot luxury catamaran custom-built for Ka`anapali Tours, LLC — won’t be plying the Ka`anapali coast any time soon. On December 21, U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi issued an order vacating the jury … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-february-2013"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}