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Oral Argument Before the Hawaii Supreme Court — SCWC-16-0000812

No. SCWC-16-0000812, Friday, July 2, 2021, 2 p.m.

ASSOCIATION OF OWNERS OF KALELE KAI, Respondent/Plaintiff-Appellee, vs. HITOSHI YOSHIKAWA, Petitioner/Defendant-Appellant.

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

The oral argument was held remotely and  live streamed for public viewing via the Judiciary’s YouTube channel at YouTube.com/hawaiicourts.

Attorneys for Petitioner Yoshikawa: 

Terrance M. Revere and Clarisse M. Kobashigawa of Revere and Associates

Attorneys for Respondent AOO Kalele Kai: 

John D. Zalewski and Jana M. Naruse of Case Lombardi & Pettit; Christopher Shea Goodwin of Christopher Shea Goodwin AAL, LLLC

NOTE: Order granting Application for Writ of Certiorari, filed 04/20/21.

COURT: Recktenwald, C.J., Nakayama, McKenna, Wilson, and Eddins, JJ.

Listen to the entire audio recording in mp3 format ]

Brief Description:

This case involves the Circuit Court of the First Circuit’s (“circuit court”) award of attorney’s fees to the Association of Owners of Kalele Kai (“Association”) in connection to a dispute over whether Hitoshi Yoshikawa (“Yoshikawa”) was allowed to moor his boat in certain modified mooring spaces. The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of the Association and awarded attorney’s fees to the Association.

On appeal, the Intermediate Court of Appeals (“ICA”) vacated summary judgment and remanded for further proceedings. However, the ICA affirmed the award of attorney’s fees, which Yoshikawa had not discussed in his opening brief.

On certiorari, Yoshikawa argues the ICA erred in affirming the award of attorney’s fees despite vacating the underlying summary judgment.