Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU, ARM
Louisville, Kentucky 40229-1655
March 20, 2004
VIA fax only @ (559) 490-1919
Mr. Justin W. Schuck, Case Manager
Julie A. Schermerhorn, Supervisor
American Arbitration Association
6795 North Palm Avenue, 2nd Ave.
Fresno, California 93704
RE: Mary Lou Woo, Trustee v. Bobby N. Harmon - Case No. 74 166 00491 03 JUSC
Dear Mr. Schuck and Ms. Schermerhorn:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REDACTED
BY ORDER OF
ARBITRATOR JUDITH NEUSTADTER FUQUA
AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION
JUNE 15, 2004
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
This is a leaf from
~ ~ ~
To fly to the top of the tree
This is in reply to Steven Guttman’s letter to you dated March 19, 2004, in which he states:
“This letter responds to Mr. Harmon’s letters dated March 10 and 13, 2004.
“These letters are a continuation of the same unrelated information that Mr. Harmon has been providing with regards to parties who have no relationship to this case. He fails to offer any realistic evidence that which supports his contention that due to a conflict of interest, Ms. Neustadter should not serve as the arbitrator in this proceeding.
“We reiterate our position that the appointment of Ms. Neustadter was proper and, therefore, she should be reaffirmed as the arbitrator.”
Before beginning my rebuttal that the information I have provided is indeed related to the parties in this case, I would point out that I believe Mr. Guttman is referring to my letter of March 12, 2004, rather than March 13, 2004. According to my records, I did not have a letter dated March 13.
I still refute Mr. Guttman’s opinion that “These letters are a continuation of the same unrelated information that Mr. Harmon has been providing with regards to parties who have no relationship to this case.” The fact of the matter is that the entities and circumstances that I have described in my letters are very much related to this arbitration case. As I have stated before, the entities and situations involved are too numerous and complex to describe in these letters. Therefore, as only one example, I will elaborate to some extent on the relationships surrounding just one individual named in previous letters – former Judge Patrick K.S.L. Yim. I will describe how these relationships are connected to witnesses that have been named in these arbitration proceedings, and how these relationships are connected to various controversial political and land use transactions in the County of Maui.
In addition to the information provided about Judge Patrick K.S.L. Yim in my letter dated March 12, 2004, I quote the following excerpts from various news sources:
About Lokelani Lindsey
Board Member, Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate
The Legacy of a Princess
As District Superintendent of Schools from 1982 to 1993, Lokelani Lindsey helped guide the destiny of Maui’s children.
Such a good job did she do, that, in 1993 she was appointed to the five-member board of Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate, the first woman to serve as a trustee....
Beginning September 1, 1996, KSBE will open its first school on Maui with enrollment open to students of Hawaiian ancestry in Kindergarten through third grade. Students who are accepted here can be assured that they can continue their education at Kamehameha’s Oahu campus through the 12th grade.
Lindsey said that in addition to land acquisition costs, the Estate anticipates spending $14 million for building and programs in the first year of operation....
Lokelani Lindsey’s indefatigable willingness to get in the ring and manifest change has brought her a solid following.
In 1990, Lindsey ran for Mayor of Maui County in a hotly contested primary. Although she didn’t win she earned a widespread base of support....
http://www.alohalindsey.com/about2.htm
< END OF QUOTATION >
The person that won the 1990 election for Mayor of Maui County was Hawaii’s present governor, Linda Lingle. She was re-elected as Maui County’s mayor in 1994.
The following is excerpted from the May 27, 1998, edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:
Judge OKs Lindsey subpoena
The Bishop trustee may obtain
Oswald Stender’s Maui business records
By Rick Daysog
Maui Land & Pineapple Co. must deliver records relating to an attempt by Bishop Estate trustee Oswald Stender to acquire its stock, a state judge has ruled.
Circuit Judge Kevin Chang denied a motion yesterday by Stender’s attorney to quash a subpoena by fellow trustee Lokelani Lindsey seeking the Maui Pine records....
Lindsey sought the records after Stender and trustee Gerard Jervis petitioned the Circuit Court to remove her, charging that she breached her fiduciary duties and was unfit to serve.
Michael Green, Lindsey’s attorney, said the Maui Pine records would show that Stender had “unclean hands” and therefore could not seek her removal....
The dispute centers on a 1995 attempt by Stender-led investment group to purchase a controlling interest in Maui Pine, which at the time was undervalued due to declining land values and unfair competition from pineapple growers in Thailand.
Stender previously proposed that the estate acquire a majority interest in Maui Pine’s stock, but that plan was rebuffed by the estate’s full board.
As part of the proposed transactions, Bishop Estate employee Dan Jones reviewed Maui Pine’s financial records. Stender immediately repaid the estate for Jones’ work....
< END OF QUOTATION >
(The full article can be found at: http://starbulletin.com/98/05/27/news/story7.html )
Both Lokelani Lindsey and Oswald Stender are named Witnesses in the instant arbitration. Dan Jones, along with Trustee Henry Peters and myself, were on the Investment Committee for P&C Insurance Company, Inc.
February 2, 1999
Lindsey ‘points finger’ at Yim in testimony
By Rick Daysog, Star-Bulletin
With tears in her eyes, Bishop Estate trustee Lokelani Lindsey testified that court-appointed fact-finder Patrick Yim pointed a finger at her and loudly told her to relinquish oversight of the estate’s educational programs.
Speaking before Circuit Judge Bambi Weil yesterday, Lindsey recounted a heated Nov. 10, 1997, board meeting in which Yim presented trustees with his preliminary report on the controversy at the estate-run Kamehameha Schools.
At one point, Yim told her that he “was going to be her worst nightmare,” Lindsey said. Lindsey believes that Yim had already made up his mind to blame her for problems at the Kapalama Heights campus prior to hearing her side of the story.
“It was a bad day for me and it got progressively worse,” said Lindsey, who told Yim during the November meeting that she had already relinquished her oversight duties in August....
Lindsey’s remarks come during her fifth day of testimony in the trial to remove her from the Bishop Estate board. The 3-month-old trial was off for two weeks before resuming yesterday....
Yim, a retired Circuit Court judge, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
But his report, which was unsealed on Dec. 4, 1997, said Lindsey managed by intimidation, fostered an environment of favoritism and undermined school President Michael Chun’s authority.
Many of the points raised in the Yim report are echoed in Jervis’ and Stender’s removal petition.
Lindsey’s attorneys David Gierlach and Michael Green are attempting to show that the Yim report is based on rumors that were circulating through the Kamehameha Schools. They argue that Lindsey was victimized by an entrenched group of teachers and administrators who took offense to her attempts to improve the school’s educational programs.
Under questioning by Gierlach yesterday, Lindsey testified that she believed Chun was not an experienced educator and had not done enough to further education for Kamehameha Schools’ students.
She said under Chun’s tenure, the school did not have a strategic plan in place.
In 1996, the full board asked Chun to develop a strategic plan but he was unable to deliver, prompting her to take over the task, she said.
“Mike Chun is a very good person and has a lot of charisma,” Lindsey said. “My assessment is that he did not have the educational expertise.”
Lindsey’s testimony resumes today.
< END OF QUOTATION >
May 7, 1999
‘Passionate about education,’ Lindsey had
the right stuff to be a fine trustee
By Rick Daysog, Star-Bulletin
Back in 1993 when the state Supreme Court named Marion Mae Lokelani Lindsey as the 30th trustee in the 100-year history of the Bishop Estate, she had all the credentials.
Part-Hawaiian, a 30-year career as an educator and the first female board member to carry on the legacy of the last direct descendant of the Kamehameha dynasty, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop.
But the 60-year-old former gym teacher will be most remembered for igniting a controversy that has stirred much anguish within the Kamehameha ohana and has brought the full board of trustees to the brink of destruction....
Lindsey, through her husband, Stephen, declined comment on yesterday’s ruling by Circuit Judge Bambi Weil ordering Lindsey permanently and immediately removed from her $1 million-a-year post.
But in the past, she has denied wrongdoing, saying she had been a victim of a rumor campaign orchestrated by fellow trustee Oswald Stender. She fully expected to be vindicated during the five-month trial over Stender’s and Jervis’ suit to remove her.
Throughout the five-month trial that ended last month, Lindsey’s lawyers tried to depict her as a champion for education who fought to improve educational opportunities for native Hawaiian children and refused to accept the idea that Hawaiian children could not do as well as children of other ethnicities.
Her attorney, Michael Green, said Lindsey took a hands-on management approach with Kamehameha Schools only after she lost faith in school president Michael Chun....
< END OF QUOTATION >
Michael Chun is mentioned in my RICO lawsuit. I would mention here that Judge Bambi Weil (now known as Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo) was also the judge in Kamehameha Schools’ lawsuit against me, as described in the following article:
August 8, 1997
Estate tries to muzzle fired exec
It seeks contempt-of-court charges
against Bobby Harmon
By Jim Witty, Star-Bulletin
Bishop Estate is seeking to silence Bobby Harmon again.
The trust has filed an emergency motion in Circuit Court seeking contempt of court charges against the fired Bishop Estate executive for allegedly violating a previous injunction that blocked him from disclosing “confidential” information about his former employer.
Matt Tsukazaki, attorney for the $10 billion charitable trust, asked for a closed hearing “to protect the confidentiality of the information that may be discussed.”
This morning, Circuit Court Judge Bambi Weil continued the matter to Sept. 26; Bishop Estate attorneys are scheduled to conduct a deposition with Harmon Sept. 12.
“We’re not dealing with the formula of Coca Cola,” quipped Harmon’s attorney, Roy Hughes. “We’re dealing with business documents.”
John Goemans, who is representing Harmon in his $1.8 million wrongful-termination suit against Bishop Estate, told Weil: “Anything that Harmon has said has been either a matter of opinion or in aid of law enforcement.”
Bishop Estate attorneys contend that Harmon released a confidential and proprietary document that contained “false and defamatory allegations” and disclosed facts concerning his employment with Bishop Estate to “outside third parties.”
Harmon, who was fired last year after serving eight years as president and chief executive officer of Bishop Estate subsidiary P&C Insurance Co., has said his questions about irregular and possibly illegal activities led to his ouster. The Attorney General has interviewed Harmon as part of its investigation into the estate’s dealings.
“Here’s a guy who brought to the attention of his company things that were of benefit to the company,” Goemans said. “Instead of being rewarded for his diligence, the whole machinery of the estate came down on him like a ton of bricks, ending his career, to which he’d reached the pinnacle.”
Harmon said he questioned an annual payment the estate made without accounting for why it was made, his salary as chief of the for-profit insurance subsidiary being paid by the nonprofit trust in apparent violation of IRS regulations, and the parceling out of legal work to selected lawyers.
Harmon is out of state and did not attend today’s hearing.
http://starbulletin.com/97/08/26/news/story1.html
I ask you to note that Matt Tsukazaki, who is mentioned in one of the above articles, is a named witness in the instant arbitration matter, and is the same attorney who wrote a letter to me dated March 8, 2004 (with a copy to you, Clyde Mark, Louanne Kam, and Steven Guttman), rejecting my tender of defense to the insurance carrier for Kamehameha Schools and P&C Insurance Company.
I quote the following from my response to Mr. Tsukazaki’s letter:
March 9, 2004
VIA fax only @ 808-523-6001
Mr. Matt Tsukazaki, Esq.
Torkildson, Katz, Fonseca, Moore & Hetherington
700 Bishop Street, 18th Floor
Honolulu, HI 96813-4187
RE: Mary Lou Woo, Trustee vs. Bobby N. Harmon
Demand for Arbitration - 74 166 00491 03 JUSC
Dear Mr. Tsukazaki:
This responds to your letter of March 8, 2004, in which you write:
“This is a response to your letter of February 27, 2004 addressed to my attention. Kamehameha School and P&C Insurance Co., Inc., are not responsible for the costs you incur in the arbitration brought by the Trustee Mary Lou Woo of your bankruptcy estate against you and your wife. Kamehameha School and P&C Insurance Co., Inc., are not obligated to defend or indemnify you for any of the fees, damages or costs you incur in the arbitration brought by the Trustee against you and your wife.
“By this letter Kamehameha School and P&C Insurance Co., Inc., informs the American Arbitration Association that Kamehameha School and P&C Insurance Co., Inc., is not responsible for and will not pay any amount reflected in the invoice that you attached to your letter or any other invoice that is issued by AAA. The responsibility and obligation for that invoice is your personal responsibility and obligation. There is no agreement or understanding between Kamehameha Schools and/or P&C Insurance Co., Inc., with Mr. Harmon to provide him a defense or to hold him harmless of any claim brought against him by any third-party.”
Your response is clearly inadequate and inappropriate for the following reasons:
First, in my letter of February 27, 2004, I simply asked you to forward the invoices to P&C Insurance Company’s authorized, independent insurance adjuster for payment. I did not ask Kamehameha Schools or P&C Insurance Company to pay these costs directly from their general funds.
Second, as you are not representing the insurance carrier for Kamehameha Schools and P&C Insurance Company, Inc., you do not have the authority to decline my tender of defense. As I wrote to you in my letter dated February 25, 2004:
“As I have stated in previous letters, I maintain that neither you nor Clyde Mark are independent claims adjusters acting on behalf of the professional liability insurance carrier for Kamehameha Schools and P&C Insurance Company. I consider your assertion that you are denying my tender of defense on behalf of their unnamed insurance company to be an act of bad faith and unfair dealing. I also would point out that under Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 31: “... No person shall in this state act as or hold himself out to be a general agent, sub-agent, solicitor, or adjuster unless then licensed therefore by this state....
“I am not responding to the other arguments in your letter since you are not a licensed adjuster and due to the conflicts-of-interests that I have described above. Also, you have not presented evidence that you have been retained or approved by the insurance carrier for Kamehameha Schools or P&C Insurance Company, either in current case or in the original case which resulted in the Settlement Agreement being arbitrated. Instead, I am demanding that my tender of defense be promptly submitted to their insurance carrier for proper handling. Once I have been contacted by their authorized, licensed, independent adjuster, I will provide him with further information regarding this case....”
Third, I would point out that you have never provided any evidence that your firm was properly authorized to act on behalf of Federal Insurance Company or the former Trustees of Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate in the settlement negotiations which resulted in the Settlement Agreement which is the subject of the current arbitration.
In fact, your unsupported claim that you were representing these entities was cited as a cause of action in my RICO lawsuit ...
Since you still have not supplied any documentation to evidence that you are, in fact, authorized to act on behalf of any of your purported clients, or on behalf of any of their insurance companies, I again ask that you submit my previous Tender of Defense, and the AAA’s invoices, to Kamehameha Schools’ and P&C Insurance Company’s insurance carrier for their proper review and response.
I also repeat here my request that you provide to me, and to Trustee Mary Lou Woo, any Attorney of Record letters you may have from your purported clients in order that we may include them in our Exhibits for the referenced arbitration proceedings.
By copy of this letter to the American Arbitration Association, I hereby request that they do not accept the unsubstantiated statements made in your letter as being truthful or made in good faith....
< END OF QUOTATION >
(The complete letter quoted above can be found on the internet at
www.the-catbird-seat.net/AAA-3-19-4.htm )
To date, I have not received a response from Mr. Tsukazaki, or from Kamehameha Schools’ insurance company, to the above letter.
August 27, 1997
Cayetano: Estate can’t hide
behind confidentially
The estate’s confidentiality provision isn’t
meant to protect the trustees, he says
By Mike Yuen and Jim Witty, Star-Bulletin
Gov. Ben Cayetano says the Bishop Estate cannot use confidentiality agreements to bar employees from cooperating with the state’s investigation into whether trustees breached their fiduciary responsibilities.
Cayetano’s remarks yesterday came an hour after a hearing in Circuit Court on the estate’s emergency motion for a contempt finding against a fired executive for allegedly violating an injunction that prevented him from revealing “confidential” information about his former employer....
Bobby Harmon, who was fired last year after working eight years as president and chief executive officer of the estate’s for-profit subsidiary, P&C Insurance Co., was questioned last week by state attorneys.
They talked with Harmon after Cayetano ordered Attorney General Margery Bronster to begin an investigation into the $10 billion charitable trust, the largest private landowner in Hawaii.
Estate attorneys are also alleging that Harmon talked with reporters, leaking sensitive information.
“The confidentiality provision, in my view as an attorney,” said Cayetano, “will not hold any weight or water if the information that’s coming out is used to demonstrate or prove that there has been in fact a breach of fiduciary duty. You cannot hide information. The confidentiality provision should stand only if it is in fact protecting the trust and the beneficiaries – and not the trustees.”
Moreover, the law giving the attorney general subpoena powers outweighs any confidentiality provision an employer may have with employees, Cayetano added.
“I think if it should then happen that people bring a civil action against this employee for damages for breach of contract, the defense is he was required to do so by law,” Cayetano said.
Several hours after Cayetano spoke with reporters, Harmon’s attorney, John Goemans, filed a writ with the state Supreme Court, challenging Circuit Judge Bambi Weil’s jurisdiction to enforce the injunction against his client.
The injunction, Goemans claims, denies Harmon’s “established First Amendment right to express his opinion as to the corruption and criminality of the officers and directors of the Bishop Estate in matters of public concern and in aid of law enforcement by the attorney general of the state of Hawaii and others.”...
(Read the complete article at http://starbulletin.com/97/08/27/news/story1.html )
< END OF QUOTATION >
December 12, 1997
Lindsey managed ‘by intimidation’ – Yim
By Rick Daysog, Star-Bulletin
Circuit Judge Colleen Hirai today unsealed the long-awaited fact finder’s report on Kamehameha Schools management by retired Judge Patrick Yim.
Yim’s report faulted trustee Lokelani Lindsey – lead trustee for Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate’s education group until just a few days ago – saying she fostered an “environment of favoritism” and inappropriately used her authority in what Yim called “management by intimidation.”
Lindsey criticized Yim’s report as unobjective in a court motion unsealed today....
Two days ago, in response to Yim’s then-sealed report, the trustees said they would adopt recommendations in the report.
Those included reinstating the authority of schools President Michael Chun, ousting Lindsey as “lead trustee” of the schools and restoring delayed “talk story” sessions with concerned students, alumni and parents....
(The full article can be found at:
http://starbulletin.com/97/12/12/news/story1.html )
< END OF QUOTATION >
October 6, 2003
Lindsey Accuses Government,
Kamehameha Schools of Genocide
The Hawaii Channel
HONOLULU – Former Bishop Estate trustee Lokelani Lindsey is accusing the state, the federal government, and the current Kamehameha Schools trustees of helping commit genocide against Hawaiians.
Lindsey was sent to jail last week to begin her six-month sentence for bankruptcy fraud.
Before her hearing, she submitted a document, which angered Judge David Ezra, because it said he is biased. That was not the only inflammatory thing in the document, which the court released Monday.
Lindsey claims the government set her up with forged documents, that she was innocent, and targeted for political reasons.
She said her whistle blowing about Hawaiian “genocide” led to threats and an attempt to kill her by tampering with her car.
“The abuses against Hawaiians is race-based and thus civil genocide... assaults similar to those perpetuated by Nazi Germany,” Lindsey wrote.
Lindsey blames this for her removal as a trustee.
“I was a guardian and am now merely a Hawaiian ward of these abusive overlords,” Lindsey wrote.
The document also suggests Lindsey is under investigation for tax evasion, which she said is also part of the conspiracy against her.
< END OF QUOTATION >
There are several items worthy of note in the preceding article. First, the judge in Lokelani Lindsey’s case was David Ezra. When I initially filed my RICO lawsuit, the judge randomly assigned to the case was Samuel King. Judge King immediately excused himself, giving as a reason the fact that he had been an outspoken critic of the Kamehameha Schools’ trustees, and that this could give the appearance of bias. The case was then re-assigned to Judge David Ezra. Although I am not an attorney, It would appear to me that Judge Ezra, likewise, would have cause to excuse himself from either my case, or from Lokelani Lindsey’s case.
There are other similarities in our two cases. Mrs. Lindsey claimed that she was set up with forged documents. I maintain that the signatures of the Kamehameha Schools’ trustees on the Settlement Agreement likely are forgeries.
Mrs. Lindsey claims that it was due her whistle blowing that she was targeted and subjected to threats and attempts on her life. I maintain that it was because of my whistle blowing that I was terminated from my positions and then relentlessly harassed in the courts by these financial giants in a continuing effort to intimidate me and to prevent me from testifying in Equity 2048 or in Lokelani Lindsey’s case.
Finally, Ms. Lindsey calls this a conspiracy against her. If you will review my RICO Case Statement (which can be found at www.the-catbird-seat.net/RICO-BH.htm ), you will see allegations of conspiracy, as well as fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, racketeering, money laundering, tax fraud, and other wrongful acts.
I continue to dispute the opinions of Complainant Mary Lou Woo and her attorney Steven Guttman as expressed in his letter of March 19, 2004, and I continue to maintain that the facts show that Judith Neustadter Fuqua is conflicted in this case and request again that she be disqualified as the Arbitrator.
Sincerely yours,
Bobby N. Harmon
cc: Mary Lou Woo, Trustee, c/o Steven Guttman, Esq. (via fax @ 808-529-7177)
Dee Jay Mailer, CEO, Kamehameha Schools (via fax @ 808-523-6313)
Casimer Fidele, Island Insurance Co. (via fax @ 808-521-7489)
Governor Linda Lingle, State of Hawaii (via fax @ 808-586-0006)
J.P. Schmidt, Hawaii Insurance Commissioner (via fax @ 808-586-2806)
Hugh Jones, Deputy Attorney General (via fax @ 808-586-1477)
Janet S. Hughes, Manager, IRS (via fax @ 303-844-3596)
Peter B. Clark, U.S. Dept of Justice, Criminal Div. (via fax @ 202-514-7021)
Tai K. Lee, Special Agent, U.S. Dept of the Treasury (via fax @ 808-539-2810)
Hawaii State Ethics Commission (via fax @ 808-587-0470)
Tax Foundation of Hawaii (via fax @ 808-536-4588)
Mayor Alan Arakawa, County of Maui (via fax @ 808-270-7870)
County Clerk, County of Maui, Legislative Branch (via fax @ 808-270-7171)
Council of the County of Maui (via fax @ 808-270-7686)
Honolulu City Council (via fax @ 808-523-4220)
State of Hawaii, Campaign Spending Commission (via fax @ 808-586-0288)
State of Hawaii, Land Use Commission (via fax @ 808-587-3827)
Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Honolulu (via fax @ 808-594-1865)
Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Maui (via fax @ 808-243-5016)
Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Washington, D.C. (via fax @ 202-466-7797)
Maui Planning & Land Use Committee (via e-mail: plu.committee@co.maui.hi.us)
Hawaii State Senators (via e-mail: sens@Capitol.hawaii.gov )
Hawaii State Representatives (via e-mail: reps@Capitol.hawaii.gov )
Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris (via e-mail: mayor@co.honolulu.hi.us )
Jim Dooley, Honolulu Advertiser (via e-mail: jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com )
Rick Daysog, Honolulu Star-Bulletin (via e-mail: rdaysog@starbulletin.com)
Sally Apgar, Honolulu Star-Bulletin (via e-mail: sapgar@starbulletin.com)
Ian Lind, www.ilind.net (via e-mail: diary@ilind.net)
This is a leaf from
~ ~ ~
To fly to the top of the tree