Hawai'i Legal News

Background. A group of people brought a lawsuit against the State's Director of Finance, the State, the Hawaiian Homes Commission, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and other related officials. The lawsuit alleged a constitutional violation of the duty to sufficiently fund the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. The complaint prayed for injunctive relief by ordering sufficient funds. The State filed a motion for summary judgment on the grounds that the complaint raised a political question and the issue could not be resolved by the courts. The circuit court granted the motion and the ICA affirmed . The HSC granted certiorari. The Political Question Doctrine. Hawai'i adopted the political question doctrine from Baker v. Carr , 369 U.S. 186 (1962): Prominent on the surface of any case held to involve a political question is found (1) a textually demonstrable constitutional commitment of the issue to a coordinate political department; or (2) a lack of judicially discover...

State v. Hinton (HSC March 20, 2009) Background.   Hinton was first indicted for allegedly touching a girl (sex assault in the 3d. -- HRS § 707-7321(1)(b)).   As the jury deliberated, the jurors informed the trial court that they could not reach a unanimous verdict.   The jury was hopelessly deadlocked and the trial court declared a mistrial.   Hinton moved for a dismissal pursuant to State v. Moriwake , 65 Haw. 47, 647 P.2d 705 (1982).   The trial court granted the motion and the State appealed. The ICA reversed the trial court's dismissal.   Relying on cases from different jurisdictions, the ICA concluded that separation of powers concerns require that a Moriwake dismissal be used sparingly.   The ICA   held that the trial court abused its discretion in granting the Moriwake motion.   Judge Foley dissented.   Hinton appealed. Moriwake and the Inherent Power to Dismiss.   The trial court's inherent power "to protect itself; the power to administer justice wheth...

Hawai'i Insurance Council v. Lingle (HSC December 18, 2008) Background. The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is an executive agency of the State of Hawai'i. It has an insurance division that is run by the Insurance Commissioner. In 1999 the DCCA was no longer funded by the Legislature's General Fund. Instead it was funded by private persons and entities that were regulated by the DCCA or received DCCA services. Those funds for the insurance division went into a special fund--the Insurance Regulation Fund. Funds were based on assessments made by the Insurance Commissioner and paid for the carrying out of operations by the insurance division and some of the overhead of the DCCA. The money never went to the General Fund. In 2002, the Legislature merged the special fund with another fund. The Legislature determined that there was an outstanding $4 million and directed the transfer of that money to the General Fund. The Governor by line-item veto struck it down to $...