LIHUE, Kauai — There will be no civil trials for wrongful death of seven people killed by the Kaloko Dam breach of 2006 or for property damages caused by the disaster.

A global settlement of multiple Kaloko Dam lawsuits was announced today in Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Watanabe’s courtroom, but the entire settlement is under seal and no public document was filed with the court.
In a dry, 30-minute hearing this afternoon, Watanabe checked with each of 16 attorneys present that they had no objections to the settlement, which has
been worked on for more than a year by attorneys and mediators.
Attorney Bert Sakuda, spokesman for several plaintiffs’ attorneys representing the families of those killed in the dam breach, said the group hadn’t agreed on a joint statement about the settlement and would not be issuing individual statements.
Attorney Ken Robinson, a private attorney representing the state of Hawaii in the cases, said the state’s portion of the settlement will eventually be made public when presented to the state Legislature next session. He wouldn’t comment on the state’s share of the settlement today.
Jimmy Pflueger’s attorney, William McCorriston, declined comment when asked about the settlement amount. But he said there’s no direct relationship between the civil settlement and the criminal case against his client.
But he noted the the civil case involves a “large number of parties” who are contributing toward a resolution of the problem.
“That begs the question: Why is one person being singled out by the state for criminal responsibility?"
Pflueger’s trial starts in April.
Other than general comments about being glad the case was settled, other attorneys outside the courtroom yesterday said they would respect the confidentiality of the settlement terms.