Legal bills growing in police dispute
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — Legals fees to defend Hawai'i County and former police department officials in a lawsuit over rigged promotions are edging close to the $4.1 million judgment awarded in the case, and an appeal hasn't even been filed yet.
Hawai'i County Councilman Aaron Chung said yesterday the county has created "a black hole" by fighting the lawsuit instead of settling out of court when it had the chance.
So far, the county has spent $3.2 million in legal fees, and an appeal to the Hawai'i Supreme Court is on the horizon.
Eleven attorneys are being retained by the county to work on the case.
The defense team includes former state Supreme Court justice Robert Klein, who is handling the county's interest in the anticipated appeal, and Peter Esser of Honolulu, who is representing retired police chief Wayne Carvalho. Both were hired after the jury trial.
This week, council members granted a request by Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida to spend an additional $100,000 to cover legal expenses already incurred.
A jury in December 1999 awarded 19 present and retired police officers $4.6 million after a lengthy trial on accusations that Big Island Police Department promotion examinations were rigged in the 1980s and 1990s to favor certain officers.
Big Island Judge Riki May Amano subsequently pared the award to $4.1 million.
None of the plaintiffs has seen any part of the money because of the expected appeal.
The county has been unable to file an appeal yet because Amano has not issued a final amended judgment in the complex case.
Chung, an attorney and former deputy corporation counsel, said he twice had urged an out-of-court settlement, which would have been possible in mid-1999 for $850,000.
"We need to look at different avenues" for resolving the case, he said.
Councilwoman Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd, the other attorney on the council, said she also had urged a settlement because she worried "the litigation costs would eat us alive."
The dispute focused on alleged tampering of the police promotion process between 1984 and 1994. The case was launched when now-retired Lt. William Silva and others sued through the State of Hawai'i Organization of Police Officers. The suit covered a period when Guy Paul and Victor Vierra were chiefs. Both men are now retired.
For reasons never made clear, Paul was granted immunity by the plaintiffs and Amano dropped Vierra from the suit before the trial.
