Case Title: Canales v. Artiga. ICA Order Dismissing Appeal for Lack of Appellate Jurisdiction, filed 06/02/2008 [pdf]. Application for Writ of Certiorari, filed 08/26/2008. S.Ct. Order Accepting Application for Writ of Certiorari, filed 09/19/2008 [pdf].

Citation: 118 Haw. 421

Docket Number: 

State: hawaii

Court: Hawaii Supreme Court

Date: 2008-09-19T00:00:00Z

Document:
LAW UBRARY
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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAI'I

---000--~

 

JOSE LUIS ANDRADE CANALES AND TORITO’S MEXICAN INC

1 AND
‘TORITO’S MEXICAN INC. IT,
Respondents /Plaintiffs-Appellees,
JULIO RODOLFO MELENDEZ ARTIGA, YOSHIMI MAKINOTO, AND JULIO’S

‘ACCOUNTANT CORPORATION,
Petitioners /Defendants-Appellants,

and
JOHN DOES 1-10, JANE DOES 1-10, DOE PARTNERSHIPS 1-10, DOE

CORPORATIONS 1-10, AND DOE GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES 1-10,
Defendants.

No. 28908

CERTIORARI TO THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF API
(crv. NO, 07-1-1597)

mY 61 dS Gt

aa

 

September 19, 2008

 

MOON, C.J., LEVINSON, NAKAYAMA, ACOBA, AND DUFFY, JJ

Pex Curiam. This court accepted a timely application
for a writ of certiorari, filed August 26, 2008, by
petitioners /defendants-appellants Julio Rodolfo Melendez Artiga,
Yoshimi Makimoto, and Julio's Accountant Corporation

(hereinafter, collectively, petitioners], requesting this court

to review the Intermediate Court of Appeals's (ICA) June 2, 2008
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order dismissing petitioners’s appeal for lack of appellate
jurisdiction. The ICA determined that the November 20, 2007
interlocutory order denying the motion to expunge the notice of
pendency of action (1is pendens) in Civil No. 07-1-1597 is not an
appealable collateral order. The ICA determined that the denial
of expungement of the lis pendens does not conclusively resolve
the disputed question whether the 1is pendens should or should
not be expunged becaus

the cireuit court could change course and expunge the (118

pendens) at some tine in the future, for example, if

Certain factual clreungtances change between now and the

entry of @ final judgnent, the [petitioners] might renew

their notion to expunge the (1is pendens) .

the (petitioners) even!

[respende:

real property, jl_nay be entitled to have the
circuit court expunge the [1is pendans]. [Citation omitted)

 

 

ag

 
   

Order Dismissing Appeal for Lack of Appellate Jurisdiction at 4.
However, a change in factual circumstances during the course of
the circuit court action or a resolution of the action in favor
of the petitioners will not affect the validity of the lis
pendens inasmuch as the determination of the validity of the lis
pendens is restricted to a review of the face of the complaint.
See $. Utsunomiva Enters.. Inc, v, Moomku Country Club, 75 Haw.
480, 505, 866 P.24 951, 964 (1994); Knauer v. Foote, 101 Hawai'i
81, 89, 63 P.3d 389, 397 (2003). The circuit court determined

that the respondents /plaintiffs-appellees’s complaint

  

erts a
direct claim of title to real properties for which a valid lis

pendens was filed. Such determination conclusively resolved the

 
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Gisputed question whether the lis pendens should or should not be
expunged

‘The ICA further determined that the denial of
expungenent of the lis pendens does not cause irreparable harm
because

an order denying a [1is pendens) merely preserves the status
Guo on a temporary basis, Despite the continued existence
of the (is pendens], the (petitioners) continue to be the
Swmers of record of the real property unless they choose to
Bell ity in which case the *1is Pendens does not prevent
title from passing to the grantee, but operates to cause the
grantee to take the property subject to any judgment
Fendered in the action supporting the iis pendens.”
Furthermore, the purchaser could move to expunge the (is
pendens}, because "there is precedent for permitting @
Purchaser of real property to challenge the filing of a lis
Pendens afeer the sale had taken place(,].. . even though
the purchaser ‘closed the purchase’ with actual
Knowledge of the Lis pendens."

 

 

 

 

 

 

order Dismissing Appeal for Lack of Appellate Jurisdiction at 5
(citations omitted). However, we have stated that

the practical effect of a recorded (248 pendens) is to
render a defendant's property unmarketable and unusable as
Security fora loan. “The financial pressure exerted on the
roperty owner nay be considerable, forcing (the ower] to
etle fot due to the serite of the suit but to rid (the
ower] of the cloud upon [the owner’s] title,

S.Utsunomiva, 75 Haw. at 502-03, 866 P.2d at 963 (citation

 

 

omitted) (format altered); Knauer, 101 Hawai'i at 93, 63 P.3d at
401 (quoting $. Utsunoniva, supra). Because of this practical
effect, the denial of expungement of the lis pendens may result
in irreparable harm if the denial is not subject to immediate
appellate review.

The Novenber 20, 2007 order denying the motion to
expunge the notice of pendency of action in Civil No. 07-1-1597

is a collateral order that is inmediately appealable as a final

 
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order pursuant to Hawai'i Revised Statutes § 641-1(a) (Supp.
2007)

‘The June 2, 2008 order of the ICA dismissing No, 28908
for lack of appellate jurisdiction is vacated. wo. 28908 is
remanded to the ICA for disposition on the merits.

Steven Guttman and Kathy K.

Higham (of Kessner Umebayashi ¢
Bain & Matsunaga), for
petitioners/defendants-

appellants, on the application Str RiEemamm
Kester Ci reteceniyren

Robert G. Klein and Lisa M.
Ezra (of McCorriston Miller

Mukai MacKinnon), for
respondents/plaintiffs- g ” X

appellees, in opposition
Waren, Rpt r+