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Hawaiian Electric (NYSE:HE) lost its effort to remove the Maui wildfire cases to federal court and the case will be remanded back to state court.
U.S. District Judge Jill Otake ruled that at least 90 lawsuits related to the Maui wildfires against Hawaiian Electric Industries (HE) and other defendants will be sent back to Maui state court, according to a court decision on Monday.
“Answering the original question – Where does this case belong?—is straightforward,” Judge Otake wrote in her opinion. “It belongs in the state court on Maui where it originated.”
Plaintiffs’ lawyer Jesse Creed told the Honolulu Civil Beat that the ruling was “a huge victory” and said, “Now these cases will be decided by a Maui jury.”