Rail: City Department of Corporation Counsel responds to federal judge’s ruling

HONOLULU—The City Department of Corporation Counsel issued the following statement in response to a federal judge’s preliminary ruling in an ongoing lawsuit against the Honolulu rail transit project:

“The Court’s ruling today was expected given Judge Tashima’s preliminary ruling and statements at the hearing about the limited scope of the record that at this time did not allow sufficient information for the Court to fully decide the disputed issues.

“Despite the City’s efforts to streamline the case early in the process by asking the Court to remove Plaintiffs Cayetano, Heen, Roth and the Small Business Hawaii Entrepreneurial Education Foundation, who completely failed to participate in the lengthy administrative process leading to the FTA’s approval of the project, the Court determined that the motion was premature at this stage of the case.

“Once the full administrative record for the case is compiled and made available so that it confirms that each of the four Plaintiffs did not in fact participate in the EIS process and that none of the Plaintiffs raised issues regarding a number of the properties that form the basis of certain claims in the Complaint, Defendants expect to renew the motion.”