Jeremy Lee joined KITV after over a decade & a half in broadcast news from coast to coast on the mainland. Jeremy most recently traveled the country documenting protests & civil unrest.
The $328 million dollar settlement will be dispersed amongst 2,700 Native Hawaiians -- after nearly 25 years in litigation.
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- A class action lawsuit dating back more than two decades is finally headed for a multimillion dollar settlement.
A vote by legislators has approved the figure of $328-million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought about by Native Hawaiians left on the waitlist between the years 1958 and 1988 for a housing lease.
Approximately 2,700 plaintiffs who filed decades ago stand to benefit from the settlement against the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL), which failed to deliver on the promise of leased homes for the Native Hawaiians participating in the class action.
Attorney for the plaintiffs, Carl Varady, credits current goodwill in the legislature and governor's office.
"I think the big thing that changed was the Supreme Court's opinion at the end of 2020 ," Varady told KITV4. "Avenues the State had for appeal were exhausted and I think the hand writing was on the wall."
Rep. Sylvia Luke noted, "We have had unprecedented revenues this year and that prompted a discussion between the state and claimants to come to a resolution."
DHHL oversees 203,000 acres of land. The class-action suit has been known as the "Kalima case" after plaintiff Leona Kalima. There are currently over 20,000 people of Native Hawaiian descent on the DHHL wait list.
Varady said calculations as to what claimants will receive cannot be made at this time, as each recipient will receive an amount for damages based on the length of time they were kept on the waitlist rather than offered housing.
Jeremy Lee joined KITV after over a decade & a half in broadcast news from coast to coast on the mainland. Jeremy most recently traveled the country documenting protests & civil unrest.
