Insurers told to butt out of Hawaii wildfire settlements

The Hawaii Supreme Court has ruled insurers that already paid claims to property owners and others as a result of the 2023 Maui wildfires cannot intervene in a settlement to recover that money back from those blamed in court for the catastrophe.

The insurers’ sole remedy, according to the court, is the lien-claims process provided by Hawaii statute to recover claims paid to policyholders that settle with defendants. The court’s Feb. 10 ruling was the latest development in several lawsuits that arose in the aftermath of wildfires that swept through Lahaina on Aug. 8, 2023, killing more than 100 people.

In the wake of the Lahaina fires, numerous lawsuits were filed against, among others, Hawaiian Electric Company, Kamehameha Schools, the State of Hawaii and the County of Maui.

Individual claims were filed in the Hawaii Circuit Court of the Second Circuit by residents affected by the wildfires, three parallel class actions...