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

HONOLULU –– A Hawai’i state court has granted a joint motion to vacate a sanction order issued more than one year ago, vacating its prior ruling sanctioning an asbestos defense firm on grounds that it allegedly failed to “reasonably” investigate its client’s concealment of thousands of discoverable documents detailing asbestos use.

In the order issued March 15, the Hawai’i Circuit Court for the First Circuit stated that it had received and reviewed the motion and supplemental briefing and that there was no opposition to the motion to vacate findings of fact, conclusions of law, and order granting motion for …