Opinion
No. SCAP–14–0000379.
11-02-2015
SURFRIDER FOUNDATION; Hawaii's Thousand Friends; Ka Iwi Coalition; and Kahea–The Hawaiian–Environmental Alliance, Respondents/Appellants–Appellees, v. KYO–YA HOTELS & RESORTS, LP, Petitioner/Appellee–Appellant, and Zoning Board of Appeals, City & County of Honolulu; Director of the Department of Planning & Permitting, City & County Of Honolulu; and 20,000 Friends of Labor, Respondents/Appellees–Appellees.
SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER
[136 Hawai'i 1]
Upon consideration of Petitioner/Appellee–Appellant Kyo-ya Hotels & Resorts LP's (Kyo-ya) appeal from the Circuit Court of the First Circuit's “Order Denying Appellee Kyo-ya Hotels & Resorts LP's Motion for Attorneys' Fees and Costs Under HRS § 607–14.5 Filed on 11/13/2013” (Order Denying Kyo-ya's Attorneys' Fees), entered on January 6, 2014, together with all submissions in support thereof, and in light of our decision in Surfrider Found. v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals, No. SCAP–13–0005781, 2015 WL 5597179 (2015), we conclude that the claims presented by Respondents/Appellants–Appellees are not frivolous within the meaning of HRS § 607–14.5 (Supp.2014) so as to merit recovery by Kyo-ya of attorneys' fees and costs. See Tagupa v. VIPDesk, 135 Hawai‘i 468, 479, 353 P.3d 1010, 1021 (2015) (“A frivolous claim is a ‘claim so manifestly and palpably without merit, so as to indicate bad faith on the [pleader's] part such that argument to the court was not required.’ “ (alteration in original) (quoting Coll v. McCarthy, 72 Haw. 20, 29–30, 804 P.2d 881, 887 (1991)). Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Order Denying Kyo-ya's Attorneys' Fees is affirmed.