LIHUE — News that retired Oahu car dealer James Pflueger sold his Kilauea property has long time litigants cheering that a decade of fighting may be coming to an end. “He is no longer the owner of the property,” said
LIHUE — News that retired Oahu car dealer James Pflueger sold his Kilauea property has long time litigants cheering that a decade of fighting may be coming to an end.
“He is no longer the owner of the property,” said Teresa Tico, an attorney involved in related civil complaints in the matter since 2002. “We expect the new owners are not going to appeal and they will finally have their easement to their home. It’s over, finally.”
Tico said the sale of land could signal the conclusion of a decades-long litigation.
“I hope so because we don’t want to go to court again on this case,” she said.
According to The Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Monday, Pflueger’s company, Pilaa 400, had transferred 14 parcels of Kilauea land to Koa Kea International.
Koa Kea International is a Honolulu company registered with the state in 2013. A spokesperson representing the Poipu hotel said there was no information regarding an acquisition of land. Emails to Koa Kea owner Penta Hotels were not returned.
The transaction states the property is to be transferred again to Pilaa International, and West Beach Kauai, an Oahu company that registered with the state in August, according to the Star Advertiser report.
From the information she received, Tico said she is confident that as of Friday, Pflueger received an amount to indicate he was giving up rights to the property. He paid off civil claims and liens including interest and fines owed to the state and other debts, she said.
Tico’s client, Amy Marvin, said the sale would end 13 years of appeals as Pflueger fought to block a court-ordered easement for Marvin to access her property within his land.
The state ordered nonexclusive access rights with a utilities easement with restraining orders filed to prevent attempts to block access to the Marvin property.
After losing a decision to the Intermediate Court of Appeals, and the state Supreme Court, the case was remanded to 5th Circuit and Pflueger again appealed. Tico said the ICA recently granted a 30-day extension to prepare a Supreme Court appeal when the sale occurred.
Plueger has seen his share of legal troubles.
The issue began when Pilaa 400 and predecessors conducted grading work to build a housing subdivision above the bay which resulted in a mudslide and damage to Pilaa Beach and the reef following heavy rains on Nov. 26, 2001.
Pflueger was ordered to perform $5.5 million in remediation along with $2.3 million in penalties and fines. All parties involved with the land have already settled, and the $5.5 million in court-ordered remediation work was completed, Tico added.
Deputy Attorney General Bill Wynhoff, supervising deputy of the Land/Transportation Division, filed foreclosure proceedings on the Pflueger mortgage in July.
Pflueger’s private attorney William McCorriston, said Pflueger was attempting to liquidate assets as early as April 2013. Pflueger had already paid “a substantial” but not total amount of a 2009 civil settlement, he said.
That involved the criminal matter for the 2006 Ka Loko dam breach from Pflueger’s property that killed seven people and resulted in charges of tampering with the earthen dam under an easement.
Pflueger pleaded no contest in July 2013.
The agreement asks the court to assess a $50,000 fine for each of the victims totaling $350,000, and shifts some responsibility from Pflueger to his corporate entity, Pacific 808 Properties LLC.
The sentencing hearing had been scheduled for today but was continued to Oct. 15.
