Legal matters of maritime concern in Hawaii, Oceania, and beyond.
Full disclosure: most of my practice involves LAND and not the ocean. We live on an island after all.
In any event, on Friday, my partner Greg Kugle and I will be providing our annual Real Estate Litigation Update to the HSBA's Real Property and Financial Services Section. This is about our third time…
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the sinking of the M/V Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior in 1975. It sank in rough weather, taking with it the lives of 29 officers and crew. Commemorative events are outlined here.
With this anniversary and with the sinking of the M/V El Faro last month, it…
October 1st and the Supreme Court just granted hearing in several cases. Of note, to this humble island attorney, is the case of Puerto Rico v. Valle. Those pesky Insular Cases….(my posts here and here).
This case arises from a criminal prosecution in Puerto Rico. A criminal defendant was convicted of federal…
The case is Paeste v. Government of Guam and the opinion can be found here.
The Ninth Circuit struck down a challenge to the constitutionality of the Jones Act or Merchant Marine Act of 1920. The case was Novak v. United States and the opinion can be found here.
The litigated component of the Jones Act (rest easy merchant mariners, you didn't lose your worker compensation causes of action)…
The Ninth Circuit rejected a challenge to California's Shark Fin Law, Cal. Fish & Game Code § 2021(b) which makes it "unlawful for any person to possess, sell, offer for sale, trade, or distribute a shark fin" in the state. The case is Chinatown Neighborhood Ass'n v. Harris and the opinion can be found here…
The ABA Section of Litigation announced a free roundtable to discuss Cotenancy clauses after a recent decision by a California appeals court, Grand Prospect Partners, LP v. Ross Dress for Less. You can find the link for registration here.
Cotenancy clauses in retail leases are common provisions that allow a tenant to…
As a random quirk of our law practice, we have done some work with the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission. Not surprisingly, the Commission's laws and regulations were challenged after the Citizen's United case and today, we have the Ninth Circuit's take on Hawaii's election laws in light of Citizen's United. It upheld Hawaii's election laws…
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser had a front page story today on a bill passed by the Legislature proposing an amendment to Hawaii's Uniform Information Practices Act, Hawaii Revised Statutes Ch. 92F.
The bill, H.B. 287, underwent re-writes throughout the session. The version that passed, and is awaiting Governor signature or veto, is:
…
We are headed to the Big Easy tonight for the American Bar Association's Section of Litigation Annual Conference.
The Real Estate Litigation Committee is pleased to present a seminar of complex claims resolution, entitled When the Levee Breaks – Resolving Complex Claims; Lessons of the Deepwater Horizon, Katrina and More. Our panelists…
