Maui Fires Class Settlement

A proposed Global Settlement has been reached with a number of companies, individuals, and Hawai‘i government entities (the “Defendants”) in lawsuits over damages arising out of the August 2023 Maui wildfires (the “Global Settlement”). One lawsuit that is part of the Global Settlement is a class action lawsuit captioned Nova Burnes, et al., v. Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., et al., Civil No. 2CCV-24-0000964 (the “Class Action Lawsuit”), pending in the Circuit Court of the Second Circuit, State of Hawai‘i (the “Court”). Defendants deny that they did anything wrong, and the Court has not decided who is right. The parties have agreed to settle the Class Action Lawsuit (the “Class Settlement”) to avoid the costs and risks, disruptions, and uncertainties of continuing the litigation.

The Global Settlement total is $4.037 billion. From this total amount, $135 million will be put toward a Class Settlement Fund, and the remainder will be put toward the Individual Settlement Fund. The Class Settlement Fund amount will fund payments to class members, legal fees and expenses of the class, service awards for class representatives, and class administration costs, and certain amounts will be held back in order to potentially pay other claims, according to the terms of the Settlement Agreement.

If you hired a lawyer to represent you in relation to the August 2023 Maui Fires, you should talk to your lawyer about excluding yourself from the Class Settlement Fund and seeking payment through the Individual Settlement Fund by executing a document called an “Individual Settlement Agreement and Release”. Please contact your attorney immediately to discuss your case. You cannot receive benefits from both the Class Settlement Fund and Individual Settlement Fund.

The Class definition includes nine categories of damages. Anybody who suffered the damages described in one or more of the nine categories on account of the Maui Fires is a Class Member and is eligible for compensation from the Class Settlement. You may fall into more than one of these categories.

You are a Class Member if you:

• Owned, rented, or resided on real property, or owned personal property, within the Fire Perimeters (see below) or within 0.5 miles of the Fire Perimeters on August 8, 2023; or
• Owned, operated, or otherwise worked for or in connection with a business within the Fire Perimeters or within 0.5 miles of the Fire Perimeters at any time between August 8, 2023, and October 8, 2023; or
• Were present within the Fire Perimeters or within 5 miles of the Fire Perimeters at any time between August 8, 2023, and 9:00 a.m. on August 9, 2023; or
• Suffered physical injury due to the Maui Fires, or are Eligible Relatives of such persons; or
• Are personal representatives or Eligible Relatives of a person who died due to the Maui Fires; or
• Are Immediate Family Members of Persons who were present within the Fire Perimeters on August 8, 2023; or
• Purchased a ticket prior to August 8, 2023, for travel by plane or ship to Maui between August 8, 2023, and October 8, 2023, and suffered economic loss that was not fully refunded due to trip cancellation or delay; or
• Had damage to their property on Maui between August 8, 2023, and October 8, 2023, from the Maui Fires; or
• Owned or operated a business on Maui that suffered damages resulting from a decline in tourism between August 8, 2023, and October 8, 2023. or

“Fire Perimeters” means the areas that were burned by the Maui Fires. This will be determined using the Wildland Fire Interagency Geospatial Services (“WFIGS”) Group Interagency Fire Perimeters maps maintained by the National Interagency Fire Center. To view a map and check whether you are within the geographic boundaries for the Lahaina, Olinda, or Kula Fires, click here.

“Eligible Relatives” means you are a surviving spouse, reciprocal beneficiary, child, father, mother, or any other person wholly or partly dependent upon a person who died or suffered physical injury due to the Maui Fires, or any other Person who asserts a claim based on the death or physical injury of another due to the Maui Fires.

An “Immediate Family Member” means you are a spouse, reciprocal beneficiary, child, sibling, parent, grandparent, grandchild, stepparent, stepchild, stepsibling, and equivalent adoptive relationships of the Person present within the Fire Perimeters.