Big Island settles lawsuit over police promotions

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — County officials will settle the most expensive lawsuit in Big Island history by paying $2 million to 19 current and former police officers in connection with a police department cheating scandal, Big Island Mayor Harry Kim announced yesterday.

"I feel like I want to say I'm sorry to the public that this has happened," Big Island Mayor Harry Kim said. Advertiser library photo

The county is not admitting to any wrongdoing in the case, but the settlement will halt a county appeal of a $4.1 million Circuit Court jury award to the 19 current or former officers involved in a lawsuit that alleged some promotions were rigged.

Instead of the jury award, the $2 million will be divided among the current or former officers. That money also will be used to pay the officers' legal fees.

"I feel like I want to say I'm sorry to the public that this has happened," Kim said. Apart from the cost, he said the community was "dragged into this as far as the emotionalism of the suit" as the trial played out in court and in the newspapers in 1999, he said.

"I'm sorry for the amount of money that has been spent; we can't afford this," he said. "I'm sorry for the whole damn thing, to tell you the truth, and I'm so glad it's done."

Hank Silva, the lead plaintiff in the case, said the officers who filed the suit would have been willing to settle the case for less than $1 million before the trial began in 1999.

"I never thought that they'd contest what was said, and we were going to settle for a very small amount of money," said Silva, who retired to Kona as a police major in 1991. "It was a principle thing, to try to right some wrongs."

The lawsuit alleged that former Police Chief Guy Paul indicated to subordinates who he wanted promoted, and those candidates were given improper assistance during the oral portion of the police department promotions examinations.

The suit alleged that Wayne Carvalho, who was Paul's deputy chief, passed Paul's preferences on to then-police Inspector Francis De Morales.

The suit was triggered by a sworn deposition given by De Morales in which De Morales admitted he leaked questions that would be asked in the oral promotion exams to the preferred candidates, or told those candidates what to study.

Paul, who was not a defendant in the case, acknowledged during the trial he told subordinates who he wanted promoted so "they would not operate in the dark."

Carvalho denied he was part of any promotion cheating, and De Morales said he was following orders from Paul.

Carvalho could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Lawyers for the county argued in court that police chiefs could appoint anyone they wanted who had been placed on the list of five eligible candidates based on Civil Service written examinations. They said no one was appointed who was not among the five eligible officers.

Carvalho later became chief, but has since retired. De Morales later became deputy chief, and has also retired.

The settlement announced yesterday ends all claims against any defendants in connection with the suit, said David Minkin, lawyer for the county. The settlement will be paid out in installments over the next three years.

Del Pranke, a citizen watchdog who has often been critical of police actions in the past, said the settlement means the taxpayers will save some money because they avoid paying the $4.1 million 1999 jury verdict. But he said the county wasted some of that savings by appealing the verdict to the state Supreme Court.

"They should have settled it right after the verdict. There was no point in appealing; they knew that," Pranke said.

Kim said lawyers for the county explained that even if the state Supreme Court overturned the jury verdict, the case would go back to Circuit Court for a new trial. That meant still more lawyers' fees, and risking what could be an even larger jury verdict at the end of the new trial.

That analysis prompted Kim to seek a settlement, he said.

Silva blamed "lawyers and the defendants" for dragging the case out. He said he does not know how much he stands to gain from the settlement, and said he was always in the case because he knew department supervisors had done something wrong.

Convinced that he was passed over for promotion because of improprieties in the process, Silva said he believes there nevertheless have been changes in the department under Police Chief Lawrence Mahuna.

Mahuna said the settlement helps to bring "closure" to an issue that has divided the department in the past, and allows the department to move on. At least nine of the officers involved in the suit are still in the department.

The chief said improvements in the promotions process have moved the department to a system based more on achievements by officers that can be documented.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.