Hawaii court overturns $7 million land compensation ruling in decade-long dispute

Hawaii's Intermediate Court of Appeals has overturned a Circuit Court decision awarding $7 million in compensation to a landowner in a contentious eminent-domain dispute spanning more than three decades.

Don Williams purchased 1.137 acres of land near Maʻalaea Harbor on the island of Maui in 1994 for $1.35 million. The protracted legal battle over the government's acquisition of the property has since become mired in competing valuations of the land, with experts presenting substantially different assessments of its fair market value.

The appellate court determined that the significant divergence between competing valuation evidence created genuine factual disputes that could not be resolved at the trial court level. Rather than upholding the $7 million award, the court vacated the judgment and remanded the case for further proceedings to establish just compensation.

The ruling underscores the complexities involved in eminent-domain cases, where determining appropriate compensation for seized property often hinges on expert testimony regarding land valuation. The case will now return to lower courts for additional hearings to resolve the valuation disputes and establish a final compensation amount.