Kahuku family receives $1 million in eviction case

A nonprofit association managing former sugar plantation camp housing on city land in Kahuku has agreed to pay $1 million to a family it evicted two years ago.

An attorney representing the family of Ana and Ulys­ses Manumaleuna announced the settlement Tuesday in a lawsuit filed against Kahuku Village Association alleging that the nonprofit, established to preserve old Kahuku Sugar Plantation housing for former workers and descendants, wrongfully evicted the family of four in dealing with complaints the family made to protect a disabled minor child.

The lawsuit, filed in state Circuit Court in August 2019, contended that KVA violated the family’s civil rights after the Manumaleunas complained that “unrelenting noise” from a gym next to their home in the Main Camp neighborhood of Kahuku Village was disrupting the couple’s child, who has autism and is sensitive to loud noise.

Attorney Eric Ferrer, who represented the Manuma­leunas with assistance from the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, said KVA refused to make its commercial tenant on land owned by the city adjust its hours of operation to minimize noise early in the morning and later in the evening. Instead, Ferrer said, the association gave the family 45 days to move into a distant dilapidated and uninhabitable Kahuku Village camp home slated for repair.

The Manumaleunas initially refused, then later tried to accept the offer but were rejected by KVA and evicted after a state District Court judge granted the association its eviction, according to the family’s lawsuit.

Ferrer said in a statement that he was drawn to the case “because no family should be made homeless as a result of firmly and fairly advocating for the legal rights of their disabled child. Every family is entitled to the quiet enjoyment of and security in their own home and to be free of discrimination.”

Ana Manumaleuna said in a statement that KVA mistreated her as a descendant of a plantation worker to benefit a commercial tenant.

“What KVA did was wrong, and even though they do not admit liability as part of the settlement agreement, the $1,000,000 settlement says it all,” Ana Manu­- maleuna said.

David Imanaka, an attorney representing KVA in the case through the association’s insurance company, referred comment to David Chee, an attorney who represented KVA in the eviction case.

Chee said KVA had no immediate comment.

The family’s lawsuit also named the city along with the gym and its owner as defendants, though these parties were not part of the settlement.

According to KVA’s eviction complaint, a CrossFit gym opened in 2013 in a vacant Hongwanji church building that was part of the plantation camp before the sugar mill closed in 1971. KVA claimed that the Manu- maleunas expressed interest in and agreed in 2014 to rent the house, which is 10 feet from the gym, understanding and accepting that there would be gym noise.

The Manumaleunas began to complain about the noise in 2015 and disrupted gym operations, the eviction lawsuit claimed.

Tom McBride, who acquired part ownership of the gym now known as Koolau Wellness Center after problems arose, said he tried to mitigate noise in ways that included installing a soundproof wall, padding floors and shutting windows.

“It’s just a sad situation,” he said. “I feel caught in the middle.”

KVA said in its complaint that rent from the gym helps maintain affordable rent for residents and benefits the community, and that the Manumaleunas in 2018 were willing to move into another Kahuku Village home that the gym owners would help pay to renovate in an effort to resolve the conflict.

Later, the Manumaleunas opposed relocating, which prompted KVA to give the family a 45-day move-out notice with an option to occupy the replacement home KVA said would be ready for occupancy by the deadline, according to the association’s eviction case.

In response, the law firm Bervar &Jones informed KVA that the Manumaleunas never agreed to move.

A May 2019 move-out deadline passed, and KVA filed an eviction lawsuit to compel the Manumaleunas to leave. The family, according to their lawsuit, agreed in July 2019 to accept the replacement home regardless of renovation status but was rebuffed by KVA.

After the Manumaleunas lost the eviction case and moved out, KVA rented the home next to the gym to McBride, who said that was done to avoid any potential future conflict between the gym and someone occupying the home.

The Manumaleunas, according to their legal counsel, ended up moving to a relative’s home where the family lives in one room with some sleeping on the floor.