LIHUE — The state wants to ensure it will get the $4 million in interest and fines it assessed James Pflueger for damages caused by a mudslide that covered the Pilaa reef in 2001. A civil complaint filed by the
LIHUE — The state wants to ensure it will get the $4 million in interest and fines it assessed James Pflueger for damages caused by a mudslide that covered the Pilaa reef in 2001.
A civil complaint filed by the state Attorney General on Monday is seeking to secure a mortgage as a valid lien on the defendants, Pilaa 400, Paul Cassiday and Pflueger. The defendants are successor trustees of the Mary Lucas estate and the mortgagors for Pilaa 400, LLC. The state considers the mortgage a valid lien on the property, excluding some other interests.
The state is seeking a court-ordered foreclosure of the mortgage that it holds. If granted, the court would appoint a commissioner to take possession and sell the mortgaged property with a writ of possession to maintain the property until sold.
Prior to late 2001, Pilaa 400, or its predecessors, conducted grading on the plateau above the bay, filling, and other work to build a housing subdivision using preliminary approval but not yet authorized by permit, according to the complaint. The work included a vertical cut, creating a cliff within the Conservation District. A road was built at the base with a culvert that drained stormwater and mud from the property directly onto Pilaa Beach.
After a period of heavy rainfall, the resulting erosion caused a massive mudflow into the Conservation District on Nov. 26, 2001. It severely damaged Pilaa Bay and reef with 2,943 square meters of live coral destroyed in a week’s time, the complaint states.
In the state case, Pflueger pleaded guilty to 10 of 14 felony counts of violating permits on May 12, 2005. He was fined $500,000 and given three years probation. Pflueger also agreed to conduct over $5 million in damage remediation.
The State of Hawaii Bureau of Conveyances on Nov. 8, 2005, included a second mortgage for Pilaa 400 as a levy to secure payment of $3.9 million in administrative costs, pursuant to the State Board of Land and Natural Resources order of June 30, 2005. Pflueger challenged the BLNR order. A state Supreme Court ruling this year found that Pilaa 400 was “properly held responsible” for restoration and monitoring costs assessed by the BLNR for the unauthorized land use that resulted in significant harm to a near-pristine coral reef.
Deputy Attorney General William Wynhoff, who is handling this case for the state, declined to comment.
Pflueger’s side in the Supreme Court case was represented by Wesley Ching and Kathleen Douglas of Fukunaga Matayoshi Hershey & Ching.
Pflueger bought 393 acres of Pilaa land in 1997. It is the Pilaa 400 property that is the subject of this suit. The mudslide case preceded the March 14, 2006, Ka Loko dam breach from Pflueger’s property that killed seven people and resulted in separate civil and criminal complaints.
