Hawai’i Court Issues Order Awarding More Than $1.1 Million in Attorneys’ Fees and Costs

HONOLULU –– A Hawai’i state court has awarded more than $1.1 million in attorneys’ fees and costs in the wake of its finding that an asbestos defense firm 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 a May 1 order, Hon. Rhonsa A. Nishimura of the Hawai’i Circuit Court for the First Circuit awarded more than $415,000 in attorneys’ fees and more than $660,000 in copying costs.

The judge did decline to award nearly $77,000 for consulting fees, however, concluding that …