Opinion
No. CAAP–15–0000361.
06-28-2016
ASSOCIATION OF APARTMENT OWNERS OF CENTURY CENTER by and Through Its BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Lily Tai NOMURA, Defendant–Appellant, and Richard Lee, Applicant for Intervention–Appellant, and Danny Roberts, Michael Spencer, Samantha Cook, Aletta Fleischinger, Kayla Fernandez, Kaycee Haban, Alix Lunsford, Hans Brodo, Lily Lum, Christopher Schulte, Lyle Nam Pak, Tom Salt, Logan Crowley, and Erin Barasky, Defendants–Appellees, and John Does 1–50 and Jane Does 1–50, Defendants.
Gary Victor Dubin, Frederick J. Arensmeyer (Dubin Law Offices), on the briefs, for Defendants–Appellants. R. Laree McGuire, Jamila E. Jarmon (Porter McGuire Kiakona & Chow, LLP), on the briefs, for Plaintiff–Appellee.
Gary Victor Dubin, Frederick J. Arensmeyer (Dubin Law Offices), on the briefs, for Defendants–Appellants.
R. Laree McGuire, Jamila E. Jarmon (Porter McGuire Kiakona & Chow, LLP), on the briefs, for Plaintiff–Appellee.
NAKAMURA, Chief Judge, and FUJISE and REIFURTH, JJ.
SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER
Lilly Tai Nomura (Nomura) and Richard Lee (Lee) (collectively, Appellants) appeal from the Judgment for Possession in favor of Plaintiff–Appellee Association of Apartment Owners of Century Center, Inc. (AOAO). The Judgment for Possession was accompanied by a Writ of Possession, and they were both filed on March 24, 2015, in the District Court of the First Circuit (District Court).
Nomura was a named defendant, and Lee moved for intervention, but his motion was denied.
On appeal, Appellants argue that the District Court lacked jurisdiction over the AOAO's summary possession action because Appellants had sufficiently raised a claim to title to divest the District Court of jurisdiction. See Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 604–5(d) (1993) (“The district courts shall not have cognizance of real actions, nor actions in which the title to real estate comes in question ....”). In particular, Appellants argue that their claim to title is superior to that of the AOAO because the AOAO lacked the authority to conduct a nonjudicial foreclosure, and therefore, the non-judicial foreclosure by which the AOAO acquired its interest in the subject unit was void. We recently considered essentially the same claim to title presented here by Appellants in Association of Apartment Owners of Century Center, Inc. v. Nomura, No. CAAP–15–0000119, 2016 WL 2940855 (Haw.App. May 11, 2016) (Memorandum Opinion). Consistent with our previous decision in Nomura (No. CAAP–15–0000119), we conclude that Appellants' claim to title in the instant case was sufficient to divest the District Court of Jurisdiction.
The Honorable Hilary Benson Gangnes issued the order denying Appellants' joint motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The Honorable Michael K. Tanigawa issued the order granting the AOAO's motion for summary judgment and the Judgment for Possession.
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Accordingly, we vacate the March 24, 2015, Judgment for Possession issued by the District Court, and we remand the case to the District Court with instruction to dismiss the summary possession action for lack of jurisdiction.