Case Notes

• Publication year: 2021

CASE NOTES

Supreme Court

Attorneys' Fees

Association of Owners of Kalele Kai v. Toshikawa, No. SCWC-16-0000812, August 12, 2021, (McKenna, J.). This certiorari proceeding addressed attorneys' fees and costs awarded to the Association of Owners of Kalele Kai ("Association") by the circuit court in connection with a dispute over whether Hitoshi Yoshikawa ("Yoshikawa") was allowed to moor his boat in the Kalele Kai marina. The circuit court granted the Association's motion for summary judgment, awarded attorneys' fees and costs, and entered final judgment in favor of the Association. On appeal, the ICA vacated the summary judgment but affirmed the related attorneys' fees and costs awards because Yoshikawa had not specifically addressed them in his appellate briefs. Yoshikawa's application for certiorari ("Application") presented a single question: "Did the ICA commit grave error in vacating the Circuit Court's Final Judgment Order, thereby reversing summary judgment and remanding the case for further proceedings to the Circuit Court but refusing to vacate the underlying attorneys' fee award?" The Hawaii Supreme Court held as follows: (1) when a judgment upon which attorneys' fees and costs were based has been vacated, attorneys' fees and costs arising out of that judgment should also be vacated; and (2) the ICA abused its discretion by limiting the issues on remand to prevent the circuit court from considering attorneys' fees and costs awarded based on the vacated summary judgment.

Appeal Pointer

An appeal may be dismissed or other sanctions may be imposed if the Civil Appeals Docketing Statement ("CADS") is not filed for a required case. HRAP 3.1(b), 3.1(f). The CADS will be stricken if a copy of the judgment or order appealed from is not attached to it.

Intermediate Court of Appeals

Criminal

State v. Park, No. CAAP-20-0000552, July 28, 2021, (Hiraoka, J.). Defendant-Appellee Yoonjung Park was indicted by a grand jury for violation of the Organized Crime law, Haw. Rev. Stat. Chapter 842. Park moved to dismiss the indictment. The circuit court granted Park's motion. The circuit court concluded that Plaintiff- Appellant State "failed to produce evidence of an enterprise[,]" citing State v. Ontai, 84 Hawaii 56, 929 P.2d 69 (1996). The State appealed. The ICA distinguished Ontai, which involved an alleged associated-in-fact enterprise; the ICA held that a limited liability company qualified as a legal-entity "enterprise" as defined by Haw. Rev. Stat. §...