Burke v. Kakaako Land Company, LLC

CourtHawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 14, 2025
DocketCAAP-21-0000280
StatusPublished

This text of Burke v. Kakaako Land Company, LLC (Burke v. Kakaako Land Company, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burke v. Kakaako Land Company, LLC, (hawapp 2025).

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

Electronically Filed Intermediate Court of Appeals CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX 14-JAN-2025 07:53 AM Dkt. 132 MO NO. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX

IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS

OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I

BUTCH BURKE; QUEEN AUTO, LLC; TROPICAL LAMP & SHADE CO., LTD; TROPICAL OTTO PARTS; U. OKADA & COMPANY, LTD.; and THEODORE UYEDA, Plaintiffs/Counterclaim Defendants-Appellees, v. KAKAAKO LAND COMPANY, LLC, Defendant/Counterclaimant/ Cross-claim Defendant-Appellant; and CEDRIC CHUN and CALVERT J.T. CHUN, Defendants/Cross-claim Defendants-Appellants, and CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU, Defendant/Cross-claim Defendant/Cross-claimant-Appellee and HAWAII COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, Defendant/ Cross-claim Defendant-Appellee, and STATE OF HAWAII, Defendant/Cross-claimant/ Cross-claim Defendant-Appellee, and DOE DEFENDANTS 1-50, Defendants/Cross-claim Defendants

KAKAAKO LAND COMPANY, LLC, a Hawaii Limited Liability Company, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HEIRS AND ASSIGNS OF CHARLES S. DESKY; HEIRS AND ASSIGNS OF MINNIE DESKY; HEIRS AND ASSIGNS OF FLORENCE DESKY; HEIRS AND ASSIGNS OF HENRY BERNARD CHRISTIAN; HEIRS AND ASSIGNS OF PAUL BERNARD CHRISTIAN; HEIRS AND ASSIGNS OF ADELE M. CHRISTIAN; and Heirs of persons named above who are deceased, or persons holding under said Heirs, and spouses, assigns, successors, personal representatives, executors, administrators, and trustees of persons named above who are deceased; STATE OF HAWAII; CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU, Defendants-Appellees, and NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

DOES 1-100; and all other persons unknown claiming any right, title, estate, lien or interest in the real property described and TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, Defendants and STATE OF HAWAII, Counterclaimant-Appellee, v. KAKAAKO LAND COMPANY, LLC, a Hawaii Limited Liability Company, Counterclaim Defendant-Appellant

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT (CASE NOS. 1CC141001912 and 1CCV-XX-XXXXXXX (Consolidated))

MEMORANDUM OPINION (By: Hiraoka, Presiding Judge, Wadsworth and McCullen, JJ.)

This case involves the disputed ownership of several streets in Kaka#ako (the Desky Streets). After a bench trial,1 the Circuit Court of the First Circuit ruled that the Desky Streets are owned by the State of Hawai#i. Kakaako Land Company, LLC (KLC) and its members Cedric Chun and Calvert J.T. Chun appeal from the February 16, 2022 First Amended Final Judgment for the State and the City and County of Honolulu. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1896, Charles S. Desky acquired 65 acres of land (the Property) in what is now known as Kaka#ako. He subdivided the Property and laid out the Desky Streets. He recorded a map showing the subdivided lots and the Desky Streets on January 14, 1897. He sold the lots, which are not at issue here. In 1903, the territorial legislature passed a joint resolution about the Desky Streets. It stated:

Whereas, Charles S. Desky is ready and willing to convey to the Territory certain streets in Kewalo, Honolulu, Island of Oahu, without cost or charge to the Territory; and Whereas, it would be a benefit to the public to have such streets owned and controlled by the Government; Therefore Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii:

1 The Honorable Jeffrey P. Crabtree presided. NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

That the Superintendent of Public Works[2] be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to accept from said Charles S. Desky a deed conveying to the Territory (without charge to the Government) all the title of said Charles S. Desky in and to the following named streets, situated in Kewalo aforesaid, to wit:

[naming the Desky Streets] Resolved, also, that after such conveyance said named roads be maintained, repaired and cared for by the Government as public highways.

The record contains no deed from Desky to the Territory conveying title to the Desky Streets, but there is no dispute that Desky has not exercised ownership over the Desky Streets, maintained them, or paid real property tax on them, since 1903. Desky died in 1924, intestate. His granddaughter, Adele M. Christian, was his last known surviving heir. None of Desky's heirs exercised ownership over, maintained, or paid real property tax on, the Desky Streets until December 17, 1985, when Christian quitclaimed any interest she had in the Desky Streets to Calvert Chun for $5,000. Christian was retired from Dole/Castle & Cooke and living alone in a rented basement at the time. She died in 2000. On January 10, 1986, Calvert Chun quitclaimed the Desky Streets to Kakaako Land Company, Incorporated. The trial court found, and the parties don't contest, that Kakaako Land Company, Incorporated was converted to KLC. KLC didn't pay real property tax on the Desky Streets. KLC didn't exercise ownership of the Desky Streets until 2010, when it began charging people and businesses for parking. KLC put up signs and towed cars of those who didn't pay for parking. On September 11, 2014, several people and businesses sued KLC. They sought a declaration that KLC did not own the Desky Streets, and an injunction against KLC charging rent for parking on, and interfering with the use of, the Desky Streets. On January 27, 2020, KLC sued Desky's heirs and assigns, the

2 The Superintendent of Public Works "shall have the powers and duties . . . of the minister of the interior which relate to streets and highways[.]" Hawai#i Organic Act § 75 (1900).

3 NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

City, and the State to quiet title to the Desky Streets. The cases were consolidated on April 6, 2020. A jury-waived trial was held on September 28, 29, and 30, and December 3, 2020. The trial court entered amended findings of fact and conclusions of law. A judgment was entered. KLC appealed. We remanded for entry of an appealable judgment under Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 602-57(3) and State v. Joshua, 141 Hawai#i 91, 93, 405 P.3d 527, 529 (2017). The First Amended Final Judgment was entered on February 16, 2022. It declared that the Desky Streets had been abandoned or surrendered to the Territory of Hawai#i in 1947 at the earliest, or at the latest by 1952, and enjoined KLC from exercising any acts of ownership or control over the Desky Streets.

II. POINTS OF ERROR

KLC contends that the trial court erred by finding and concluding that: (1) the Desky Streets were automatically abandoned or surrendered to the Territory of Hawai#i under The Highways Act, 1892, as amended; (2) Christian had no right, title, or interest in the Desky Streets when she executed the 1985 quitclaim deed, and conveyed no interest in the Desky Streets to Calvert Chun; and (3) the 1986 quitclaim deed from Calvert Chun to KLC's predecessor conveyed no property interest.

III. STANDARDS OF REVIEW

KLC does not challenge the trial court's findings of fact. See Hawai#i Rules of Appellate Procedure Rule 28(b)(4)(C). "If a finding is not properly attacked, it is binding; and any conclusion which follows from it and is a correct statement of law is valid." Kawamata Farms, Inc. v. United Agri Prods., 86 Hawai#i 214, 252, 948 P.2d 1055, 1093 (1997). We review conclusions of law under the right/wrong standard. Est. of Klink ex rel. Klink v. State, 113 Hawai#i 332, 351, 152 P.3d 504, 523 (2007). When a conclusion presents mixed questions of fact and law, we review it under the clearly

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Burke v. Kakaako Land Company, LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burke-v-kakaako-land-company-llc-hawapp-2025.