David C. Farmer vs. Harmon - Witness ISAAC DAVIS HALL

David C. Farmer, Successor-Trustee vs. Harmon

(Formerly Woo vs. Harmon & Nicholson vs. Harmon)

CV05-00030 DAE KSC

U.S. District Court For the District of Hawaii

Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang

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DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

ISAAC DAVIS HALL

2087 Wells Street
Wailuku, HI 96793-2221

Ph: (808) 244-9017
Fax: (808) 244-6775

Maui attorney who argued before the Hawaii Supreme Court against the Hawaii Superferry and the State of Hawaii.

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December 23, 2007

10 WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE

- ISAAC HALL -

ATTORNEY FOR ANTI-SUPERFERRY
ENVIRONMENTALISTS

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Attorney kept boat
tied up in court

By Gary Kubota, Star-Bulletin

Isaac Hall was the Maui attorney who argued before the Hawaii Supreme Court and mounted a successful legal challenge against the Hawaii Superferry and state of Hawaii.

Only a special exemption by the state Legislature upset Hall's challenge and allowed the start of the Superferry.

Hall, 63, has been recognized by the Sierra Club for arguing more cases on behalf of the environment than any other lawyer in the state.

He's provided legal representation to environmental groups who couldn't afford high attorneys' fees and he's won a number of cases.

In Maui Circuit Court in October, the scene seemed out of a movie -- three attorneys, sometimes four, representing the state and Superferry at one table, and Hall on behalf of citizens groups seated alone at the other.

Hall prevailed in his arguments to require the Superferry to do an environmental study before starting operation.

But the state Legislature in a special session in November intervened to exempt the Superferry and other similar vessels from the environmental requirement.

Hall, who practices law with the help of friends and family members including his wife Dana Naone Hall, occupies a modest office on the bottom of a two-story, hollow-tile and wooden building on Wells Street.

Hall worked for several years as an attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii on Maui and assisted a number of poor native Hawaiians in land and water disputes against major landowners on Molokai and East Maui.

He went into private practice after the Legal Aid Society narrowed its scope of services during the Reagan era, barring him and other attorneys in his office from being involved in environmental and native rights cases.

For more than 20 years, he has managed to run a private practice while continuing to do pro bono work.

Lucienne de Naie, vice chairperson of the Sierra Club in Hawaii, compared Hall to lawyer Atticus Finch in "To Kill A Mockingbird."

"He's a small-town attorney who has taken on some huge issues of our time," de Naie said.

De Naie said Hall's argument about the Superferry was important in trying to uphold constitutional rights.

Alan Murakami, the supervising attorney for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said that while other private lawyers might represent a single public interest issue during their lifetime, Hall has been representing numerous groups on behalf of the environment for decades.

"It's also his longevity. Isaac has been doing it since the 1970s," Murakami said.

Murakami said Hall is the antithesis of the greedy, incompetent lawyer cited in jokes.

"You can't make fun of this guy," Murakami said

http://starbulletin.com/2007/12/23/news/story03.html

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October 10, 2007

Ruling boxes in Superferry

A judge prohibits service to Maui, prompting Gov. Lingle and lawmakers to seek a special session

By Richard Borreca, Star-Bulletin

The debate over the Hawaii Superferry appears headed for the state Capitol.

Political leaders are huddling to see whether they have the support to change environmental laws to let the Superferry operate after a Circuit Court judge blocked the service to Maui.

Gov. Linda Lingle is urging House Speaker Calvin Say and Senate President Colleen Hanabusa to act soon because the Superferry company will have to start laying off employees in three weeks.

Maui Judge Joseph Cardoza yesterday blocked the Superferry from using Kahului Harbor facilities without an environmental assessment.

Superferry officials said they were disappointed for the employees and for Hawaii. Their attorney said they planned to appeal the decision.

Sierra Club attorney Isaac Hall said he is sorry the Superferry is losing money but said the company and the state were warned several years ago that they had to perform an environmental assessment.

Cardoza's decision was applauded by residents opposing Superferry stops on Kauai until an environmental study is done. The decision doesn't affect Kauai's Nawiliwili Harbor. But Superferry officials have said the company wouldn't make enough money by going only between Oahu and Kauai.

http://starbulletin.com/2007/10/10/news/story01.html

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October 10, 2007

Environmentalists cheer court

Superferry's attorney signals an intent to appeal the ruling

By Gary T. Kubota and Nelson Daranciang, Star-Bulletin

Kauai residents pushing for an environmental review of the Hawaii Superferry for the Garden Island are thrilled with Maui Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza's decision.

"This is a victory for all people who believe an environmental assessment should be done before the Superferry can operate," said Jimmy Trujillo, spokesman for Hui-R, the group that organized the protest of the Superferry's maiden voyage to Kauai in August.

But Superferry officials were disappointed yesterday, and Superferry attorney Lisa Munger said her client planned to appeal Cardoza's decision.

Superferry President and Chief Executive Officer John Garibaldi said: "Obviously, we are disappointed. While the ruling is a loss for Hawaii Superferry and our employees, it is a greater loss for the state of Hawaii."

Garibaldi declined to respond to questions after the Maui court hearing.

Cardoza's ruling affects Superferry travel to Kahului Harbor and does not affect Nawiliwili Harbor on Kauai.

Superferry managers have chosen not to operate on Kauai even though there is no legal obstacle. Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano ruled on Kauai last month that opponents failed to file a timely challenge after the state exempted the Superferry from having to do an environmental assessment.

"We're proceeding with our appeal," said Greg Meyers, an attorney for Thousand Friends of Kauai. "We expect the state and the Superferry to appeal Judge Cardoza's ruling. We don't know what they're going to do. We aim to be prepared."

Besides blocking Superferry operations at Kahului Harbor, Cardoza also declared that an operating agreement between the Superferry and state transportation officials was void.

State law requires an environmental assessment before the operation can start and he was compelled to apply Hawaii law as it is written, the judge said.

Cardoza said the Hawaii Supreme Court had already ruled on the merits of the case by ordering that an environmental assessment be done and that he was following the system of environmental review as required by state law.

Cardoza said the decision should not be looked at as a moment of joy but a time for all to bridge divisions. "If we don't work out these issues, things will not get better," he said.

Garibaldi has said the company would have to transfer the Alakai out of Hawaii if it is allowed to operate only to Kauai.

Superferry officials also have mentioned the possibility of laying off 90 percent of the employees during the environmental review process.

Isaac Hall, representing the Sierra Club and other citizens' groups in the Maui case, said he hoped the Superferry does not leave Hawaii and lay off its employees.

Hall said he was sorry that there will be economic harm to the Superferry but that the interisland service and the state were warned years ago about preparing an environmental assessment.

"The message to the state is, 'Don't abuse the exemption process,” Hall said.

He said state transportation officials should do a broader study that requires an environmental impact statement and might take one to two years, compared with an assessment that takes about eight months.

Keone Kealoha of Malama Kauai does not expect the Superferry to return to Nawiliwili Harbor until after state lawmakers meet in special session -- if they decide to do so.

http://starbulletin.com/2007/10/10/news/story01.html

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October 5, 2007

Superferry can’t wait
for report, says CEO

'I can't guarantee the vessel will
return if it leaves the state'

By Wendy Osher, Special to the Star-Bulletin

WAILUKU » The Hawaii Superferry would transfer its vessel "elsewhere to generate revenue" if it cannot operate while an environmental study is prepared, President and Chief Executive Officer John Garibaldi testified in court yesterday.

"I can't guarantee the vessel will return if it leaves the state," said Garibaldi, adding that the Superferry is losing about $650,000 a week because its vessel, the Alakai, sits idle.

Garibaldi was called to testify yesterday in a Circuit Court hearing on an injunction to stop the company from operating at Kahului Harbor while an environmental assessment is conducted.

In August the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that the state should have done an environmental assessment for Kahului Harbor improvements....

Garibaldi said the events of Sept. 11, 2001, "brought home the fact that we were relying on one mode of transportation." ...

Garibaldi pointed to his experience as an executive with Aloha Airlines in 1985 and later with Hawaiian Air in concluding that "the establishment of the Hawaii Superferry meets the needs of providing a public purpose."

When asked about previous testimony from other witnesses on invasive species, Garibaldi agreed that occasional random high-intensity inspections of vehicles utilizing the ferry service would not be objectionable....

Garibaldi said 12 meetings were called for, but they conducted 22 statewide, with seven of them on Maui.

Isaac Hall, the attorney for environmental groups seeking the injunction, objected to the line of inquiry, saying, "Any public involvement is irrelevant to the argument because the Hawaii Supreme Court has already ruled that the public was deprived of their participation rights by the failure to prepare an EA (environmental assessment)."

Judge Joseph Cardoza overruled the objection because the two sides will later argue the information's relevance.

http://starbulletin.com/2007/10/05/news/story01.html

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Isaac Hall is expected to testify regarding his business, professional and personal relationships with John Garibaldi, Steve Case; Linda Lingle; Calvin Say; Nainoa Thompson; Robert K.U. Kihune; Hawaii Superferry, Kazu Hayashida, Norman Mineta; Neil Abercrombie; Ed Case; Jeffrey Case; Suzanne Case; The Nature Conservancy; The Ocean Conservancy; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; Judith Neustadter Fuqua; Maui County Council; Maui Planning Commission; Dan Case, David Farmer, and others to be named upon discovery.