Insurance companies want part of $4B Lahaina fire settlement

By Yiming Fu, Report for America corps member

The Hawaii Supreme Court will decide next Thursday if insurance companies can get any money from a $4 billion global settlement to recuperate losses they suffered from the Lahaina fires.

At issue is whether most of that money should go to residents who suffered losses in the fire or if insurance companies can claim some of that money.

That industry is claiming about $ 2 billion in losses, which would cut into the amount of money fire survivors would receive if the judge includes insurance companies in the settlement.

Earlier this week, Judge Peter Cahill cancelled a Wednesday Wailuku trial that was supposed to determine how much of the total settlement should go to tourists and other parties in the class action.

Lawyers came to an agreement Tuesday, determining the vast majority of the money would go to the survivors and family members of victims who have asserted claims — instead of those who might be part of the class action lawsuit and have yet to make a claim.

A class action lawsuit generally applies to events that have affected all people equally.

“While the classes have not been fully delineated yet,” attorney Lance Collins said in an email “it will likely include people with nominal claims as well as those who have marginal or meritless claims like tourists that had to reschedule their vacations.”

After Tuesday’s decision, those people’s part of the $4 billion global
settlement is now settled.

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the fire survivors next week, Collins said the next step will be to have the parties determine the claims administration process for the survivors and family of victims. This includes notifying recipients, reviewing claim forms and handing out money.

“If they haven’t hired an attorney to assert their claims,” Collins said, “they should do so as soon as possible as the window to make claims is closing.”

Announced last August, the $4 billion Lahaina fire survivor settlement hoped to compensate survivors by mid-2025, resolving about 450 lawsuits filed by individuals, businesses and insurance companies.

The State of Hawaii will pay about $800 million, Kamehameha Schools will pay $872.54 million and Hawaiian Electric will pay $1.99 billion.

(Correction: An original version of this story incorrectly stated the start of the next hearing. We’ve also clarified details of the earlier settlement.)