LIHU‘E — The Hawai‘i Supreme Court last week agreed to hear a case in which the Kaua‘i County Council is suing the state Office of Information Practices to keep certain records concealed. The court issued an order accepting OIP’s petition
LIHU‘E — The Hawai‘i Supreme Court last week agreed to hear a case in which the Kaua‘i County Council is suing the state Office of Information Practices to keep certain records concealed.
The court issued an order accepting OIP’s petition for a writ of certiorari on June 23, according to a clerk, and on Wednesday scheduled oral arguments for the morning of Aug. 10.
The writ is the latest in a long line of legal battles stemming from a controversial executive session meeting convened by then-Council members Kaipo Asing, Jimmy Tokioka, Jay Furfaro, Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho, Daryl Kaneshiro, Mel Rapozo and JoAnn Yukimura on Jan. 20, 2005, known as ES-177, rumored to involve discussion of soon-to-be-removed Police Chief K.C. Lum.
The council members and County Clerk Peter Nakamura are listed as the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against OIP, filed in 2005 when OIP directed the county to release the minutes of ES-177 after Kaua‘i Police Commissioner Michael Ching and Richard Stauber, a member of the public, each asked the agency to investigate the meeting.
5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe in early 2008 ruled in favor of the county. The Intermediate Court of Appeals reaffirmed that decision earlier this year.
The petition for a writ of certiorari, filed by the OIP, said the appeals court upheld the lower court’s finding that the state Sunshine Law controls the disclosure of minutes and that the minutes were “properly withheld in their entirety because of the compelling reasons for respecting and preserving the attorney-client privilege also afforded public agencies and because the privileged portions of the minutes were so intertwined with non-privileged portions that redaction would be impractical.”
OIP argued that the Uniform Information Practices Act, and not the Sunshine Law, should govern the distribution of executive session minutes.
Each side will be allowed a half hour for argument on Aug. 10, the clerk said, after which the court will deliberate until it reaches a decision.
• Michael Levine, assistant news editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mlevine@kauaipubco.com
