Hawaii Appellate Opinions

COUNTY OF KAUA'I v. OFFICE OF INFORMATION PRACTICES, STATE OF HAWAI"I

No. 29058 (January 30, 2009)

Opinion [pdf]

OPINION OF THE COURT BY FOLEY, J.

Defendants-Appellants State of Hawai'i Office of Information Practices and Leslie H. Kondo, Director of the Office of Information Practices, in his official capacity, (collectively, OIP) appeal from the "Final Judgment in Favor of Plaintiffs and Against Defendants" (Judgment) filed on February 11, 2008 in the Circuit Court of the Fifth Circuit (circuit court). The circuit court entered judgment in favor of Plaintiffs-Appellees County of Kaua'i, Kaua'i County Council (Council), and Council members Bill "Kaipo" Asing, James Kunane Tokioka, Jay Furfaro, Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho, Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Mel Rapozo, Joann A. Yukimura, and Peter A. Nakamura in their official capacities (collectively referred to as County) and against OIP.

The Judgment incorporated by reference the circuit court's December 7, 2007 "Order Granting Plaintiff County of Kaua'i et al.'s Motion for Summary Judgment and Denying Defendant Office of Information Practices et al.'s Motion for Summary Judgment" (Order re SJ Motions), in which the circuit court found that "[plursuant to the law of the case doctrine, this Court refuses to disturb the prior ruling of a judge in the same court where the issue of jurisdiction has been decided." In a footnote, the circuit court explained that "[t]he Honorable Judge George M. Masuoka [of the circuit court] denied [OIP's] Motion to Dismiss Complaint for Declaratory Relief, filed on June 30, 2005. The Order Denying [OIP's] Motion to Dismiss Complaint for Declaratory Relief was filed on August 30, 2005."

. . .

OIP requests that we remand this case and order the circuit court to dismiss this case for lack of jurisdiction. Alternatively, OIP asks that we reverse the Judgment and uphold OIP's determination regarding disclosure of the ES-177 Minutes.
. . . .

The "Final Judgment in Favor of Plaintiffs and Against Defendants" filed on February 11, 2008 in the Circuit Court of the Fifth Circuit is affirmed. [footnote omitted]

JOU v. HAMADA

Nos. 27491, 27539 (January 26, 2009)

Opinion pdf

OPINION OF THE COURT BY NAKAMURA, J.

Under the provisions of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) §§ 386-73 (Supp. 2007) and 386-87 (1993) of the Hawai'i workers' compensation law, the parties to a decision by the Director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (the Director) have the right to appeal the Director's decision to the Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Board (LIRAB). The Director has promulgated a rule, Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR) § 12-15-94(d), prohibiting any appeal of the Director's decisions in billing disputes between employers and medical service providers in workers' compensation cases. HAR § 12-15-94(d) authorizes the Director to resolve such billing disputes without a hearing and provides that "[t]he decision of the [D]irector is final and not appealable."

The question presented in these consolidated appeals is whether the Director was authorized to promulgate a rule prohibiting any appeal of the Director's decisions in billing disputes between employers and medical service providers. We conclude that the Director's no-appeal rule is inconsistent with the statutory right granted to parties to appeal the Director's decisions under HRS §§ 386-73 and 386-87.

We hold that: 1) the provision prohibiting appeal of the Director's decisions in HAR § 12-15-94(d) is invalid as beyond the Director's rulemaking power; 2) Provider-Appellant Emerson M.F. Jou, M.D., (Dr. Jou) is entitled to a declaratory judgment that the no-appeal provision of HAR § 12-15-94(d) is invalid; 3) the Circuit Court of the First Circuit (circuit court) erred in dismissing Dr. Jou's claims for declaratory relief; and 4) although Dr. Jou cannot pursue the merits of his appeals of the Director's decisions before the circuit court, he is entitled to file appeals of the Director's decisions with the LIRAB. [footnotes omitted]