Settlement talks unravel
Andy Vliet, a Kamehameha Schools graduate, speaks publicly for the first time about the alleged sex abuse he suffered decades ago at the hands of Dr. Robert Browne, a psychiatrist who was accused of molesting Kamehameha students from the late 1950s to the early 1980s. Settlement talks to resolve a lawsuit Vliet filed against Kamehameha Schools and other defendants have failed.
Fall 1976: Vliet, a Molokai resident, gets scholarship to attend Kamehameha’s Kapalama campus as a 7th-grade boarding student
December 1976: Vliet is referred to Dr. Browne. For the next nearly five years, Vliet says he was abused every other week during the school year and less frequently during the summers.
May 1982: Vliet graduates from Kamehameha
1985: Vliet named a Rhodes scholar
1986: Vliet commissioned as an officer in the Army
October 1991: Browne fatally shoots himself after being confronted by a former student who threatens to expose Browne’s alleged abuse from years earlier.
1990s: Kamehameha officials hear about allegations against the late Browne but don’t investigate them, don’t inform authorities and don’t reach out to his former patients
2003: Kamehameha interviews Vliet for its chief executive officer job but eventually offers it to someone else.
2014: Several lawsuits against Kamehameha, St. Francis Medical Center (where Browne worked) and his estate are filed. A group of former patients — mostly Kamehameha graduates — files one, Vliet files another as a “John Doe” and a “Student Doe” files a third one. The lawsuits are re-filed in 2016.
March 2016: Plaintiffs, defendants agree to mediate claims. In mediation and in prior medical claims proceedings, plaintiffs share wrenching details of their alleged abuse.
July 2017: Kamehameha files a cross claim against St. Francis, saying it believes Browne routinely abused students but the school wasn’t aware of his conduct contemporaneously and that Browne had concealed it. If the plaintiffs are entitled to damages, the school argued, St. Francis is liable. St. Francis disputes that.
December 2017: Star-Advertiser reveals damning information from the 2016 depositions of former Kamehameha officials, disclosing that the school did not investigate allegations against Browne when they surfaced in the early 1990s.
January 2018: Kamehameha apologizes to Browne victims
February 2018: Kamehameha and attorneys for 32 plaintiffs announce $80 million settlement. Kamehameha says it wants to help Browne’s victims heal and end a dark chapter in its history. The settlement does not include Vliet and the other Doe plaintiff.
December 2018: Trial in Vliet’s case scheduled for October 2020
February 2019: Settlement talks between Vliet, Kamehameha end because two sides are too far apart. Parties are told to pursue gathering of evidence.
May 2019: Mediator formally declares impasse in Vliet case
May 2019: Kamehameha gives notice to Vliet that his deposition will be taken in July.
Source: Court documents, Star-Advertiser research
