Maui wildfire victims have been awarded a $4 billion settlement for the August 2023 blazes, the governor's office announced Friday.
Seven defendants, including the State of Hawaii, County of Maui, Hawaiian Electric, Kamehameha Schools, West Maui Land Co., Hawaiian Telecom and Spectrum/Charter Communications, will compensate everyone who filed a claim, and the settlement resolves more than 450 lawsuits. according to According to a press release from Hawaii Governor Josh Green, a Democrat, the wildfire on Aug. 8, 2023, killed 102 people in Lahaina and damaged more than 3,000 structures, The New York Times reported. report.
“This has been an extraordinary and unprecedented effort by so many people to address the devastating effects of the wildfires less than a year ago,” Green said in a press release. “Resolving this issue so quickly shows how special Hawaii is and how we come together in times of crisis to heal together as a community.”
Hawaiian Electric, one of the companies sued by Maui County for ignoring “red flag” warnings from the National Weather Service about increased wildfire danger and failing to shut down its equipment, will pay $1.99 billion, the largest amount among the defendants, The New York Times reported, avoiding huge costs that could have forced the company into bankruptcy.
The settlement does not include an admission of liability, according to the NYT. (Related: Hawaii's environmental policies and questionable decisions led the state to its worst wildfires in history)
New leaves emerge on a beloved historic banyan tree in front of the former Lahaina Courthouse site, built in 1859, located within the Lahaina Wildfire impact zone, in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 2, 2024. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
“Achieving this resolution avoids the additional challenges and disruption associated with the litigation process and allows all parties to move forward,” said Shelley Kimura, Hawaiian Electric's president and CEO. according to “This will enable us all to work more united and effectively together to help the people of Lahaina and Maui emerge from this tragedy and create the future they want,” according to a company press release.
The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation, but some believe it was partly caused by fallen power lines and exacerbated by the fire department's failure to fully extinguish the initial blaze, according to The New York Times.
Green's office, Maui County and Hawaiian Electric did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
As an independent, nonpartisan news service, all content produced by the Daily Caller News Foundation is available free of charge to any legitimate news publisher with a large readership. All republished articles must include our logo, reporter byline, and affiliation with the DCNF. If you have any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact us at licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
