Department of Hawaiian Home Lands
HONOLULU — The state of Hawaii could pay over $370,000 in lawyer fees after losing a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 2,700 Native Hawaiians who spent years on the waitlist for homestead land.
The $370,418 payment is pending approval from the state Legislature and covers only attorneys fees during an appeal that stretched from 2017 to 2020, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Sunday.
The amount is just a portion of what the state is expected to pay after the full costs for lawyer fees are determined and damages are awarded to those waitlisted.
“The state is well aware that it is going to be a very significant amount and that’s a consequence of its decision to fight this lawsuit for 20 years,” said attorney Carl Varady, who has represented the plaintiffs in the case, known as Kalima v. State.