LIHUE — Darryl Perry, chief of the Kauai Police Department, was recently reimbursed over $12,000 for attorney fees after he filed a complaint against the county. Perry filed a claim on Jan. 23 for an incident that occurred on Feb.
LIHUE — Darryl Perry, chief of the Kauai Police Department, was recently reimbursed over $12,000 for attorney fees after he filed a complaint against the county.
Perry filed a claim on Jan. 23 for an incident that occurred on Feb. 2, 2012. The amount was $12,602.37, but details about why he took the action were not immediately known by press time.
The claim was settled on April 27.
Perry’s claim was one of four against that were settled between April 1 and June 30.
The first incident on Dec. 23, 2016 by Amil Valpoon, who filed a claim for damages to his car.
According to a report from the County Attorney’s Office, an employee with the Department of Parks and Recreation was driving a county truck in Hanalei when it reversed and hit a private car that was parked.
The claim was filed on Jan. 18, 2017.
There was damage to the driver side rear fender, bumper and tail light. The total cost to get the car fixed was $1,965.83. The county reached the settlement on April 13.
On Jan. 17, Moises Labuguen was involved in an incident with his private car. The complaint was filed on Feb. 9.
“(The) claimant was parked at the Kauai Bus baseyard stall 21 in front of the mechanic bay,” according to the report.
While the initial amount of cost of damage was unknown, his claim was settled on April 13 for $726.60.
In early December, 12 claims were filed against the county for car damage, including cars getting stuck in potholes, being struck by falling branches, or hit by county cars. In 2015, 22 claims were filed against the county.
This year’s quarterly report was submitted to the Kauai County Council on July 17, and was put on the agenda for the July 26 county council meeting.
When claims for vehicle damage are filed against the county, each report is given to a county attorney who reviews the facts of the case, said Mauna Kea Trask, county attorney.
If the settlement amount is over $5,000, the claim goes to the Kauai County Council for approval. Anything $5,000 and below, the county attorney’s office can settle without going to the council, Trask said.
The fourth and final settled claim of this quarter was filed by Michael Yaris on March 10 for car damage.
Four days earlier, he was in Hanapepe when “the claimant was driving west about 100 yards past Hawaiian Cemetery when a county trash truck heading in the opposite direction very fast — saw a rock fly out and hit his windshield and cracked it,” according to the report.
The claim was settled for $553.42, and was settled on April 7.
