A judge forces Hawaii to turn over wildfire investigation documents to lawyers handling lawsuits

HONOLULU — A judge on Friday forced the Hawaii attorney general’s office to turn over to lawyers involved in the hundreds of lawsuits stemming from last summer’s Maui wildfires all documents, interviews and data collected by the outside team , which was tasked with investigating the disaster.

Lawyers representing plaintiffs suing over the August fires filed a motion last month asking a judge to force the state to provide them with material collected by the Fire Safety Research Institute, which the state has used was commissioned to investigate.

The state refused, saying disclosure of the documents would “jeopardize and hinder” the investigation. In court documents denying the motion, the state called the motion “premature, baseless and frivolous” and asked a judge to order the state to pay attorneys’ fees for defending the motion.

Shortly after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century devastated the historic town of Lahaina, killing 101 people, Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez announced the hiring of outside investigators. Last month, Lopez and representatives from the Fire Safety Research Institute released a report on the first phase of the investigation. While the report showed that a widespread communications blackout left authorities in the dark and failed to inform residents of the emergency, and that the former head of the emergency management agency did not return until the day after the fire broke out, it did not draw any conclusions about the actions taken by officials .

During a hearing Friday on the island of Maui, Assistant Attorney General David Matsumiya told Judge Peter Cahill that the state was concerned that releasing information could cause the six people who have not yet been interviewed to change their stories.

Cahill bristled.

“Do you really think that’s going to happen?” he asked, clearly annoyed. “And what if they change their stories? Aren’t they entitled to it?”

Cahill appeared to raise concerns about the investigation, including whether those interviewed were told they were not required to answer questions.

“By the way, the taxpayers pay for that,” the judge continued.

Lopez said last month that the investigation contract was initially not supposed to exceed $1.5 million, but because they were behind schedule, the contract was extended. According to an updated contract, the cost increased by $2.5 million, bringing the total to no more than $4 million.

The judge’s order raises “serious concerns,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement after the hearing.

“The independent, objective process and analysis of the facts is critical to determining what county and state authorities must do to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again,” the statement said. “Premature release of these materials can cause external factors to affect the analysis.”

The Attorney General is considering options and will soon decide on an appropriate course of action.

Cahill told Matsumiya he understood the state’s concerns, but if the information wasn’t shared with attorneys, the litigation would be delayed. The investigation is important and hiring an outside agency is a smart investment since the state is short of a firefighter, he said, “but it’s also important that people have their day in court.”

Cahill noted that there are about 400 lawsuits involving thousands of plaintiffs.

“It’s frustrating to pursue litigation,” Cahill said, “which is also a mechanism for seeking the truth.”

David Minkin, an attorney representing Maui County, suggested to the judge that the investigative process was flawed.

Investigators “showed up in Lahaina, said we were here from the attorney general’s office and started talking to people” without informing them of their rights, he said.

Matsumiya said the state is trying to “protect the integrity of the investigation aimed at creating a better future for Lahaina and all of these people in Lahaina.”

But Cahill responded that “in this case, given what happened on this island, the past must also be taken into account” and that litigation would determine whether there had been breaches of legal duty.

During a separate hearing later Friday to discuss coordinating the lawsuits, Cahill said a handful of lawsuits are scheduled to go to trial in November. ___

This version makes clear that although the Hawaii attorney general’s report in April showed that the former head of Maui’s emergency management agency did not return until the day after the fire broke out, it did not draw any conclusions about the actions taken by officials.