Opinion ID: 1154746
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: During the Great Mahele of 1848, King William Charles Lunalilo was granted real property consisting of the Iliaina of Kapahulu, affirmed by Land Commission Award 8559-B, Apana 32. Upon his death, this land was devised to the Trustees of the Lunalilo Estate (Trustees). The Trustees sought to lease the land; however, in 1881, this court interpreted the King's will and determined that the Trustees had no power to do so and ordered its sale. See Matter of Estate of Lunalilo, 4 Haw. 381 (1881). Prior to the sale, the Trustees subdivided the Lunalilo property into two major units  parcels labeled Lots 1 through 37, and parcels labeled Lots A through I. Lots A through I make up the original Kaalawai subdivision and are situated near the sea below Diamond Head. Located between Lots A through G and the ocean is a strip of land (the strip) bearing no designation. Parcels 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 13 are part of this strip. (See diagram below.) The Trustees sold Lot 36 to the Territory of Hawaii in 1884, but the original Kaalawai subdivision was not included in the sale. The following year, Lots A through I were conveyed to various private purchasers: (1) Lots A and B to W. James Smith; (2) Lots C and D to J.R. Walker; (3) Lot E to Likelike Cleghorn; (4) Lots F and G to Antone Rosa; and (5) Lots H and I to W.A. Widemann. [2]
On January 28, 1959, the Trustees filed Land Court Application No. 1767 (Lunalilo Application) to register fee simple absolute title to the strip. Landowners adjoining the strip opposed the Lunalilo Application and asserted ownership to the particular parcels of land abutting their respective Lots A through I based on the 1885 deeds to the original grantees and claims of adverse possession. The State also opposed the Lunalilo Application and claimed ownership to the disputed area. The State asserted that: (1) The fee simple ownership of the [strip] was never conveyed to the [Trustees] because the land was not included within the boundaries of the Iliaina of Kapahulu; (2) The fee simple ownership of the [strip] was never conveyed to the Trustees because it was a public road prior to the Land Commission Award to Lunalilo, and an award in name only does not pass title to an existing public roadway; or (3) The State has acquired fee simple title to the [strip] by means of statutory dedication as a public road. See Land Court Joint 1767 Decision at 2 (emphasis added). Roy and Estelle Kelley filed Land Court Application No. 1768 (Kelley Application) on January 30, 1959, seeking to register absolute fee simple title to their residence Lot B and Lot A (parcel 5). Because the Kelleys also opposed the Lunalilo Application, the land court on March 2, 1961 ordered the Lunalilo and Kelley Applications consolidated for trial but limited the Kelleys only to presenting matters of defense raised in their answer to the Lunalilo Application. The March 2, 1961 order also provided that upon completion of the trial of the mutual issues raised in both applications, the land court would then proceed to complete the trial of the Kelley Application. On July 3, 1962, the land court issued a joint decision (1767 Decision), concluding that the Trustees had conveyed title to the strip to the original grantees of the abutting parcels of land by the deeds executed in 1885, and therefore, the Trustees ha[d] no title in the [strip] to register. 1767 Decision at 14. Because of this determination, no evidence was presented on the landowners' claims of adverse possession. The land court also found all of the State's asserted claims to be without merit and that it had failed to establish any claim to this area. Id. The land court subsequently issued a decree (1767 Decree) on March 19, 1963, adjudging that the Trustees did not have title to register. The Kelley Application was only opposed by the Trustees and the State. The State initially asserted arguments identical to those in opposition to the Lunalilo Application, but added a new defense concerning the location of the highwater mark. After the 1767 Decision and Decree were issued in the Lunalilo Application, the land court completed the separate trial on the Kelley Application and issued a supplemental decision on January 9, 1964 (1768 Decision), which explicitly ruled: The parties appearing herein are bound by the Joint Decision rendered by this Court [the 1767 Decision] ... wherein this Court held, among other things, that the Trustees did not have title to the [strip] (which includes [parcel 5]), and that the State of Hawaii had failed to establish any claim to the said [strip] (and Lot A). 1768 Decision at 2. Relying heavily on the findings and conclusions contained in the 1767 Decision, the land court concluded that the Kelleys had successfully established their fee simple ownership to parcel 5 to the high water mark. Id. at 7. In view of the land court's finding that the Kelleys had otherwise proven their title, the land court declined to hear the Kelleys' adverse possession claim. The land court then issued a decree (1768 Decree) confirming and registering fee simple title to the Kelleys for Lots A (parcel 5) and B.
In 1963, the Trustees alone appealed the 1767 Decree from the Lunalilo Application, whereas the Trustees and the State appealed the 1768 Decree from the Kelley Application in 1964. While the Trustees' appeal of the 1767 Decree was pending in this court, they reached a settlement with the abutting landowners (excluding the Kelleys) and quitclaimed any interest over the strip to them. The quitclaim deeds were placed in trust (settlement trust), with the abutting landowners as beneficiaries. Subsequently, by stipulation, First National Bank of Hawaii, as trustee of the settlement trust, was substituted for the Trustees and moved for dismissal of the pending appeal. Meanwhile, the State, which had appealed only the 1768 Decree, moved to consolidate its appeal with the Trustees' appeal of the 1767 Decree. This court, however, granted First National Bank's motion to dismiss the Trustees' 1767 appeal with prejudice ... there being no prejudice to the remaining respondents in the case and also denied the State's motion to consolidate. The State's appeal of the 1768 Decree, in which this court only had personal jurisdiction over the State and the Kelleys, and in rem jurisdiction over Lot A (parcel 5), presented the narrow question whether [parcel 5] ... was conveyed to the Kelleys' predecessor in title, Smith, thereby giving [the Kelleys] good title. In re Kelley, 50 Haw. at 568, 445 P.2d at 540. Despite its statement regarding the narrow scope of the appeal, this court reversed the land court's 1768 Decree and determined that the State held title, not only to parcel 5, but also to the entire strip. This court determined that: (1) the land court erred in giving title to the Kelleys to register because the Trustees did not include title to parcel 5 as part of the conveyance of the subdivision lots to the abutting landowners; (2) the Trustees had abandoned title to the strip by holding it out as a road on a 1882 subdivision map; and (3) the State had acquired the strip as of the date of the Highways Act of 1892 and the Act retrospectively divested the Trustees of title to the strip. Id. at 581, 445 P.2d at 547.
On July 3, 1989, the State filed the present ejectment action in the First Circuit Court against Magoon, Kelley, and DHRDC. The State claimed ownership of all six parcels on the grounds that this court in In re Kelley had determined that the State owned the entire strip, which included these particular parcels of land. Magoon, Kelley, and DHRDC counterclaimed against the State, asserting ownership of their respective parcels. The State then filed a motion for summary judgment regarding ownership of all parcels, that is, parcels 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 13. The State claimed that there were no genuine issue of material fact and argued that: (1) it owned the strip due to its 1884 deed, the Highways Act of 1892, and the Kelley decision; (2) Kelley was stare decisis as to its principles of law; and (3) based on Kelley, the landowners were barred by res judicata and collateral estoppel from relitigating the issue of ownership. Magoon and DHRDC each filed motions for partial summary judgment as to parcels 2 and 13, respectively. Both assert statutory estoppel, that is, that the plain and unambiguous language of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 501-53 (1985), precluded the State from relitigating ownership of these parcels in the ejectment action. In the alternative, both relied on the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel. In Kelley's motion for summary judgment as to parcels 4, 6, and 8, he asserted that, pursuant to statutory estoppel under HRS § 501-53 and collateral estoppel, the State was precluded from relitigating ownership of parcels 4, 6, and 8 based on the land court's 1767 Decision. Kelley also moved for an order allowing him to relitigate, in the State's ejectment action, ownership of parcel 5, which he asserted was not precluded by the In re Kelley decision. On February 7, 1991, the circuit court issued a single order disposing of all motions for summary judgment and partial summary judgment in the following manner. The circuit court denied the State's motion for summary judgment as to parcels 2, 4, 6, 8, and 13, but granted its motion for parcel 5. The circuit court also denied Magoon's motion for partial summary judgment for parcel 2 and DHRDC's partial summary judgment motion for parcel 13. Finally, the circuit court denied Kelley's motion for summary judgment regarding parcels 4, 6, and 8, and his motion for an order permitting relitigation of ownership of parcel 5. Subsequent to Rule 54(b) certification, see Hawaii Rules of Civil Procedure (HRCP) Rule 54(b), these interlocutory appeals followed.