No. SCPW-13-0000092, Wednesday, October 2, 2013, 10 a.m.

RICHARD COHAN, Petitioner, vs. THE HONORABLE BERT I. AYABE, Judge of the Circuit Court of the First Circuit, State of Hawai`i, Respondent, and MARRIOTT HOTEL SERVICES, INC. dba MARRIOTT’S KO OLINA BEACH CLUB, MARRIOTT OWNERSHIP RESORTS, INC. dba MARRIOTT VACATION CLUB INTERNATIONAL and RRB RESTAURANTS, LLC dba CHUCK’S STEAK AND SEAFOOD, Respondents, Real Parties in Interest.

The above-captioned case has been set for argument on the merits at:

Supreme Court Courtroom
Ali`iolani Hale, 2nd Floor
417 South King Street
Honolulu, HI 96813

Attorneys for Petitioner:

James Krueger, Cynthia K. Wong, and Loren K. Tilley II of Krueger Wong

Attorneys for Respondents, Real Parties In Interest:

 Sidney K. Ayabe and Ryan I. Inouye of Ayabe Chong Nishimoto Sia & Nakamura

Attorney for Respondent Judge:

Robyn Chun, Deputy Attorney General

COURT: MER, CJ; PAN, SRA, SSM, & RWP, JJ.

[ Listen to the entire audio recording in mp3 format ]

Brief Description:

This is an original proceeding arising from a personal injury case. Petitioner is challenging a CAAP arbitrator’s order directing him to sign medical records authorizations and a stipulated qualified protective order on the ground that the authorizations and stipulated qualified protective order violate the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, 45 C.F.R. § 164.500 et. seq. (“HIPAA”) and Article 1, § 6 of the Hawaiʻi Constitution. The respondent defendants contend that the authorizations and stipulated qualified protective order do not violate federal or state law. They further maintain that the stipulated qualified protective order form that the CAAP arbitrator directed petitioner to sign is the identical form that appears on the Hawai`i State Bar Association’s website and was generated through the efforts of a subcommittee of the Judiciary’s Bench/Bar Committee.