Parties in lawsuits seeking damages for Maui fires reach US$4B global settlement, court filings say

The parties in lawsuits seeking damages for last year’s Maui wildfires have reached a US$4-billion global settlement, a court filing said Friday, nearly one year after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century.

The term sheet with details of the settlement is not publicly available, but the liaison attorneys filed a motion Friday saying the global settlement seeks to resolve all Maui fire claims for US$4.037 billion. The motion asks the judge to order that insurers can’t separately go after the defendants to recoup money paid to policyholders.

“We’re under no illusions that this is going to make Maui whole,” said Jake Lowenthal, a Maui attorney selected as one of the liaisons for the coordination of the cases. “We know for a fact that it’s not going to make up for what they lost.”

He noted there were “extenuating circumstances” that made lawyers worry the litigation would drag on for years.

Some lawyers involved have expressed concern about reaching a settlement before possible bankruptcy of Hawaiian Electric Company.

Now that a settlement has been reached, more work needs to be on next steps, like how to divvy up the amount.

“This is the first step to allowing the Maui fire victims to get compensation sooner than later,” Lowenthal said.

The Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire killed 102 people and destroyed the historic downtown area of Lahaina on Maui. It burned thousands of homes and displaced 12,000 people.

More than 600 lawsuits have been filed over the deaths and destruction caused by the fires. In the spring, a judge appointed mediators and ordered all parties to participate in settlement talks.