Hawai’i Court Sanctions Asbestos Defense Counsel for Failure to ‘Reasonably’ Investigate Concealment of Documents

HONOLULU –– A Hawai’i state court has sanctioned an asbestos defense firm, finding that counsel failed to “reasonably” investigate its client’s concealment of thousands of discoverable documents detailing their use of asbestos, effectively “discharging their affirmative ethical and professional discovery obligations.”

In her 124-page order issued Dec. 19, Hon. Rhonda A. Nishimura of the Hawai’i Circuit Court for the First Circuit found that the Hugo Parker Law Firm’s “obstructive discovery tactics seriously prejudiced Plaintiffs’ right both to timely discovery and to a fair trial, greatly impeded resolution of the case, [and] consumed an inordinate amount of time relative to the …