HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A huge jury verdict has been restored over scuttled plans for a marina in Ewa Beach.
An appeals court says the developer must pay well over $20 million to homeowners who said they were deceived.
The legal fight over Haseko’s decision to replace plans for a marina resort with a recreational lagoon has been ongoing for 13 years.
Now, the Intermediate Court of Appeals says a judge was wrong to throw out the jury’s decision made nine years ago.
Attorneys Terry Revere and Michael Green won the verdict in 2015 and said the jury was outraged by Haseko’s actions.
“It was all a lie,” Green said. “It was all built up to get as much money out of these homeowners as they could. And they did, and now they’ve got to repay it.”
It was a legal fight that seemed all but forgotten as Haseko finished the lagoons at Wai Kai and developed amenities, including a wave pool, high-end dining, and a golf country club.
But the appeals court restored the jury’s finding that 1,800 original buyers were deceived and were owed money for lost home values and for millions they paid Haseko for a marina.
“They were unjustly enriched by taking in money from the consumer homeowners for something that they never delivered,” Revere said.
The jury awarded $20 million for unjust enrichment and $1,300 per property for lowered values.
The jury rejected the company’s claim that it was sincere about its plans.
The day of the verdict, Haseko attorney Steven Chung said, “There’s no evidence that they never intended to deliver the marina, and all of the homes were sold when the company fully intended to deliver the marina.”
