A Kauai councilman has reached a $290,000 settlement in a lawsuit against a former prosecutor and other county officials after he accused them of abuse of power and malicious prosecution.
The settlement was reached almost two years after Councilman Tim Bynum filed the suit at U.S. District Court in September 2012 alleging violations of his civil rights by Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho, supervising planning inspector Sheila Miyake and the county. He alleged an illegal warrantless search of his home occurred and that criminal charges over zoning violations filed against him amounted to political retaliation and an attempt to block him from questioning the financial activities of the prosecutor’s office.
The unsigned settlement document states, "This agreement shall not be construed as an admission of liability on the part of any of the settling parties. Instead it is to be construed solely as a compromise of disputed and contested, asserted and unasserted claims in order to avoid further and future controversy, expense and litigation between the settling parties."
A hearing was held Friday to put the settlement on record. Attorney Margery Bronster, who is representing Bynum, said the defendants’ attorneys requested to postpone the matter so they could present the settlement before the Kauai County Council. A special Council meeting is scheduled for April 11 to address the matter.
The defendants are ordered to pay the settlement by April 15, according to the unsigned settlement document.
County spokeswoman Mary Daubert would not comment, saying the matter is still pending before the court. Bynum also would not comment.
Iseri-Carvalho, who is in private practice after her retirement from the county, said Friday she had not seen the settlement. "There is no signed settlement agreement because everyone refuses to sign the agreement," she said. Iseri-Carvalho added that Bynum’s allegations that his First Amendment rights were violated because he was prevented from asking questions is false.
Miyake and her attorneys could not be reached for comment.
Bynum’s 2012 lawsuit said former First Deputy Prosecutor Jake Delaplane secretly recorded a conversation with Miyake, alleging that she told him a November 2010 zoning violation notice against Bynum was politically driven.
Miyake has told the Star-Advertiser that she didn’t handle Bynum’s case and the allegations were baseless and taken out of context.
Bynum accused Miyake of entering his property in Kapaa without notifying him to inspect an addition he constructed at his home in 2005. Allegations were made against Bynum that he was illegally renting out a section of his home.
The zoning charges claimed he had an illegal second kitchen because of a rice cooker and a refrigerator inside the addition.
The lawsuit said a deputy attorney general found no zoning violations. Criminal charges were dismissed.