Maui wildfire: Parties in lawsuits seeking damages reach $4 billion settlement
The August 8, 2023 wildfire in Maui killed 102 people.
The parties in the lawsuitsseeking damages for last year’s wildfire in the US state of Hawaii'sMaui reached a $4 billion global settlement, a court filing said on Friday. A report by the news agency Associated Press said that the term sheetswith details of the settlement were not publicly available, but the liaison attorneys filed a motion saying the global settlement seeks to resolve all Maui fire claims for $4.037 billion.
The motion asks the judge to order that insurers could not separately go after the defendants to recoup money paid to policyholders. This settlement was reached amid fears thatHawaiian Electric, the power company that was blamed by some for sparking the fire, could be on the brink of bankruptcy.
'Settlement amount woefully short'
Advocate Gilbert Keith-Agaran, who is representing the victims, said the settlement amount was "woefully short."But he said it was a deal plaintiffs needed to consider given Hawaiian Electric’s limited assets and potential bankruptcy.
Also read |Maui police recommends more training, better tech, equipment in report on Lahaina wildfire
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Jake Lowenthal, a Maui attorney selected as one of four liaisons for the coordination of the cases, told the Associated Press that the agreement was the first steptoward getting fire victims compensation.
"We’re under no illusions that this is going to make Maui whole.We know for a fact that it’s not going to make up for what they lost," Lowenthal added.
The August 8, 2023 wildfire in Mauikilled 102 people and destroyed the historic downtown area of Lahaina. The report said that over 600 lawsuits had been filedover the deaths and destruction caused by the fires, which burned thousands of homes and displaced 12,000 people.
'Establishment will help...'
Hawaiian Electric said that the settlement would help reestablish the company’s financial stability. It said that paymentswould begin after final approval and were expected no earlier than the middle of next year.
“For the many affected parties to work with such commitment and focus to reach resolution in a uniquely complex case is a powerful demonstration of how Hawaii comes together in times of crisis,” CEOShelee Kimura Kimura said in a statement.
(With inputs from agencies)