Kawananakoa Foundation directors join fight over trust

The judge in the Abigail Kawananakoa trust fight Friday granted a request by the newly formed Abigail KK Kawananakoa Foundation board of directors to enter the case.

The decision by Circuit Judge R. Mark Browning came one day after a hearing in which the attorney for the Campbell Estate heiress said his client not only opposed the request, but was disgusted by it.

In its motion to join the proceeding, the board said it was seeking to protect the $100 million foundation Kawananakoa set up as part of her trust to serve the Native Hawaiian community following her death.

Represented by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., a board made up of Oswald Stender, Lilikala Kame‘eleihiwa and Jan Dill replaced Kawananakoa, the previous lone director, with the blessing of James Wright, the successor trustee, who said he was obligated to give the foundation a voice in the proceeding.

Attorneys for Kawananakoa and her wife, Veronica Gail Worth, are seeking to oust Wright as trustee and give control to Kawananakoa through a trio of trustees, including Worth.

At Thursday’s hearing Kawananakoa’s attorney, Michael Lilly, passed out a note he said was from Kawananakoa saying, in part, that she is appalled by the new board of directors because she considers Stender and Kame‘eleihiwa “archenemies.”

Kawananakoa’s mental capacity and ability to control her $215 million estate is at the heart of the proceeding.