Posted on: Saturday, June 30, 2001

Attorneys want Felix subpoenas quashed

By Alice Keesing
Advertiser Education Writer

The battle over the Felix consent decree escalated yesterday with attorneys asking a federal judge to block legislators' attempts to subpoena witnesses for their investigation into the cost of special education.

The motion filed in federal court yesterday asks U.S. District Judge David Ezra to quash subpoenas for Ivor Groves, the court-appointed monitor in the Felix case, and Juanita Iwamoto, executive director of the Felix monitoring project.

The pair are the first called to testify before a rare joint Senate-House investigation into the case. Legislators have expressed concerns about the soaring costs of special education and have said the subpoenas are the only way to get "straight answers."

But Eric Seitz, who represents some of the families in the Felix case, yesterday described the Legislature's actions as "mischief."

"We've told the Legislature several times that we're more than happy to come and answer any questions they may have, but they can't go about it in a manner that's disruptive and dishonest — and that's what this is," he said.

Groves and Iwamoto are scheduled to testify before the Legislature on July 13, but with the motion scheduled for hearing on July 10, it's unclear what will happen.

The motion is the latest jab in the increasingly litigious fight between the Legislature and the plaintiff attorneys and the federal court on the Felix issue. Ezra repeatedly has warned legislators that their actions risk opening the door to a takeover of the special education system.

Rep. Scott Saiki, co-chairman of the investigative committee, protested the motion.

"I think the Legislature is acting within its constitutional authority to issue subpoenas, and we want to follow a formal procedure in requesting documents," said Saiki,

D-20th (Kapahulu, Mo'ili'ili). "We don't want to do it informally. We want to follow the rules so everything is above board."

Saiki said the Legislature's broad request for documents is pertinent to the consent decree.

"Part of the issue is that we're not really sure exactly what kind of documents are available, so we need to consider that," he said.

Meanwhile, Seitz believes the Legislature's actions could "seriously harm" the state's position in light of another motion that Ezra will hear Aug. 16. That motion asks Ezra to appoint a receiver over the special education system because the state consistently has failed to meet deadlines to improve services.

The state has asked for six more months to get the job done.

The system is under Ezra's oversight as the result of a 1993 class-action lawsuit over the state's treatment of children with mental disabilities. In the 1994 consent decree, the state agreed to improve services.