Our Class Action Lawsuit

OUR LAWSUIT

On August 5, 2024, a Class Action Complaint named Stover v. County of Maui, 1 :24-cv-307 JAO BMK was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. A second amended version on this Class Action Complaint was filed on November 1, 2024 (“Class Action Lawsuit”). See a copy of the Class Action Complaint below.

The Class Action Lawsuit is specifically intended to recover loss and damages suffered by Lahaina residents displaced by the August 8, 2023, Lahaina wildfire. These displacement damages include:

The Class Action Complaint alleges claims against the following defendants:

• Richard T. Bissen, Jr., as head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency (“MEMA”), for causing damages because of his grossly negligent violations of the Emergency Management statutes, Hawaii Revised Statutes, Chapter 127A, including failing to direct Maui Electric Company to shut off the electric power to Lahaina prior to ignition of the wildfire.
• Herman Andaya, as the Director of MEMA, for causing damages because of his grossly negligent violations of HRS Chapter 127A, including failing to avoid a repeat of the 2018 Hurricane Lane Kaua’ula fire which almost destroyed Lahaina.
• Maui Fire Department (MFD) for causing damages by negligently failing to post a fire watch at the burn site above Lahaina to prevent the fire from rekindling and rapidly spreading to the combustible vegetation and destroying Lahaina town.
• Maui County which is responsible for Bissen’s and Andaya’s gross negligence and for the MFD’s negligence.
• Hawaiian Electric Company (and its associated companies) for causing damages because of its negligently failing to preemptively shut off the electric power to the Lahaina area in order to avoid a repeat of the 2018 Hurricane Lane Kaua’ula fire which almost destroyed Lahaina.
• Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate for causing damages because of its negligently failing to manage the combustible vegetation on its lands in order to avoid a repeat of the 2018 Hurricane Lane Kaua’ula fire which almost destroyed Lahaina.
• Spectrum Communications (and its associated companies) for causing damages by negligently overloading the electric transmission poles which broke and collapsed and caused the power lines to ignite the vegetation in the rights-of-way beneath the transmission lines. For a Lahaina resident who contacts us for recovery of bodily injury and property damage, which are not covered by the Class Action Lawsuit, sustained by the August 8, 2023, Lahaina wildfire, a separate Complaint for Damages, will be have to be filed.