CAAP-16-0000410 – Wednesday, December 11, 2019, 10 a.m.

State of Hawaii, Petitioner-Appellee, vs. Windyceslau D. Lorenzo, Respondent-Appellant.

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

Attorney for Respondent-Appellant:

Williamson B.C. Chang and Burton Gould

Attorneys for Petitioner-Appellee:

Daniel A. Morris, Deputy Attorney General

COURT: Ginoza, C.J. and Leonard, J. in place of Reifurth,

retired and Hiraoka, J. in place of Nakamura, C.J., retired.

[ Listen to the entire audio recording in mp3 format ]

Brief Description:

Defendant-Appellant Windyceslau D. Lorenzo recorded three warranty deeds at the Bureau of Conveyances which purported to convey three parcels of land from himself to his wife. The Plaintiff-Appellee State of Hawai i sought to expunge these deeds through a Petition For An Order Expunging Instruments Creating Nonconsensual Common Law Liens pursuant to Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 507D, contending that the parcels were owned by the State.

The Circuit Court of the First Circuit granted the Petition and expunged the deeds, found that the liens created by the deeds were frivolous, ordered damages against Lorenzo, and ordered a temporary injunction barring Lorenzo from filing related documents with the Bureau.

On appeal, Lorenzo asserts the Circuit Court did not have in rem jurisdiction, should have required the State to provide a valid and clean chain of title demonstrating ownership or interest in the parcels, erred because the State lacks clear title or interest in the parcels, erred in determining that Lorenzo had no valid interest in the parcels, and erred in ruling that Lorenzo’s deeds were frivolous.