One of the companies being sued over the deaths of five men in a fireworks explosion and fire at a Waikele storage facility in 2011 has agreed to pay the families of the victims $1.5 million.
Ford Island Ventures holds the master lease to the former munitions bunker complex owned by the Navy.
In documents it submitted last month in U.S. District Court, FIV says it has agreed to settle its share of the lawsuit with the five families and asks the court to approve the $1.5 million as a good-faith settlement that does not undermine the positions of the other defendants.
The court has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 30.
Most of the other defendants being sued, and against whom the families’ claims would remain, have indicated that they do not oppose the settlement or they take no position on it. They include VSE Corp., which the families claim had a contract with the federal government to transport, store and dispose of seized fireworks, and subcontractors Blanchard and Associates Inc. and Donaldson Enterprises Inc.
The five men who died in the explosion were employees of Donaldson Enterprises.
Two other defendants have also indicated that they take no position on the proposed settlement. They are Hawaiian Island Development Co. and HIDC Small Business Storage LLC, which the families claim leased storage units from FIV and in turn sublet the unit where the explosion and fire occurred to Donaldson Enterprises. Both companies are owned by local real estate developer Peter Savio.
Two other Savio real estate companies, Hawaiian Island Commercial Ltd. and Hawaiian Island Homes Ltd., also defendants, have yet to state a position on the proposed FIV settlement.
Bryan Cabalce, Robert Kevin Freeman, Justin Joseph Kelii, Robert Leahey and Neil Benjamin Sprankle died in the April 18, 2011, explosion and fire at Donaldson Enterprises’ rented storage bunker in Waikele.
Donaldson Enterprises Inc. director of operations Charles Donaldson and project manager Carlton Finley are charged in a federal grand jury indictment with conspiring, aiding and abetting, and treating hazardous waste improperly and without a state permit by having their workers dismantle the fireworks in the rented bunker. They are also charged with illegally disposing of more seized fireworks at Schofield Barracks and lying to authorities.
Their trial is scheduled for July.
