HONOLULU (Legal Newsline) – Property owners in Hawaii will get to sue Honolulu over a 2018 flood they say could have been prevented.
The Hawaii Supreme Court made that ruling on Sept. 2 when it settled a question of whether those plaintiffs had missed their window of time in which to file suit. A class action that lingered for three years before the plaintiff settled only his own claims froze the statute of limitations, the court ruled.
The lawsuit said Honolulu failed to inspect and maintain part of its storm and drainage system.
"The complaint alleged that approximately 410 homes were damaged by the flood and indicated that the State had confirmed damage to over 280 homes," the ruling says. "Collectively, this information notified the city of 'the number and generic identities of the potential plaintiffs who may participate in judgment.'"
The ruling settled a question of whether class action tolling can be applied to mass torts. Hakim Ouansafi was the plaintiff in the original class action, but the trial court denied his motion for class certification after he settled his own - and not the prospective class' - claims.
Individuals brought 12 separate actions after Ouansafi settled, seven of which were assigned to Judge Dean Ochiai. Honolulu filed motions to dismiss in those seven, arguing the suits were barred because they did not come within two years.
Plaintiffs countered the statute of limitations was suspended between October 2018 and June 2021, when the class action was pending, even though class certification was ultimately denied.
"(W)e hold that the availability of class action tolling turns not on whether or not the class action is a 'mass tort,' but rather on whether it provided the defendant notice of the subject matter and potential size of the litigation at issue," the ruling says.
And the original class action complaint provided that notice, it adds.