Opinion ID: 4374952
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: statement of prior proceedings

Text: On February 23, 2017, DW filed a complaint in Hawai‘i state court against the Commission and the State of Hawai‘i asserting takings claims under both the United States Constitution and the Hawai‘i Constitution. DW alleged that the Commission’s reclassification of the property as 1 After the Commission entered its written order, Bridge also filed a second lawsuit against the Commission alleging, among other things, that the reclassification of the land constituted an unconstitutional taking without just compensation. That lawsuit, which the State removed to federal court, was stayed pending the Hawai‘i Supreme Court’s review of the Commission’s reclassification order. See Bridge Aina Le‘a, LLC v. Haw. Land Use Comm’n, 125 F. Supp. 3d 1051, 1057 (D. Haw. 2015). Once that decision came down, Bridge’s takings claims proceeded to trial, where a “jury found that the State had taken [Bridge’s] property without just compensation.” Bridge Aina Le‘a, LLC v. Haw. Land Use Comm’n, No. 1:11-cv-00414-SOM-KJM, 2018 WL 3149489, at  (D. Haw. June 27, 2018). Bridge was awarded only nominal damages. See id. For reasons that remain largely unexplained, DW never sought to become a party in Bridge’s takings suit. 6 DW AINA LE‘A DEV. V. STATE OF HAWAI‘I LAND USE COMM’N agricultural constituted a regulatory taking of DW’s property without just compensation. Specifically, DW alleged that the reclassification increased the purchase price of the property after DW had agreed to purchase it, destroyed DW’s “sophisticated funding arrangement [with] Asia” for developing the property, and caused DW to sustain other increased costs and losses in business opportunities. The State removed the case to federal court and moved to dismiss the complaint as barred by the applicable statute of limitations. The district court granted the State’s motion to dismiss.2 The parties agreed that DW’s takings claims accrued when the Commission issued its order on April 25, 2011. Regarding the federal takings claim, the court determined that, although this claim was not (and could not be) brought against the State under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, see Will v. Mich. Dep’t of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71 (1989), the statute of limitations that ordinarily governs § 1983 actions—the statute of limitations for general personal injury torts, see Wilson v. Garcia, 471 U.S. 261, 276–79 (1985)—applies. The 2 The district court also addressed several threshold issues, none of which is at issue in this appeal. First, the court concluded that DW’s federal takings claim was not barred by the exhaustion requirement set forth in Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank, 473 U.S. 172, 192–97 (1985), noting that the State removed the case to federal court and raised no jurisdictional or ripeness argument in doing so. Second, the court concluded that the State waived its Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity from suit in federal court by voluntarily removing the case to federal court. See Lapides v. Bd. of Regents of Univ. Sys. of Ga., 535 U.S. 613, 618–20 (2002). And third, the court concluded that it could retain supplemental jurisdiction over DW’s state takings claim despite having dismissed the federal takings claim. See 28 U.S.C. § 1367. The parties do not challenge any of those conclusions on appeal, and we accordingly express no opinion on them. DW AINA LE‘A DEV. V. STATE OF HAWAI‘I LAND USE COMM’N 7 limitations period for personal injury torts in Hawai‘i is two years. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657-7. The court thus concluded that DW’s federal takings claim is time-barred. The court also concluded in the alternative that DW’s federal takings claim is time-barred under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 661-5, which provides a two-year limitations period for “[e]very claim against the State, cognizable under [Part I of Chapter 661].” In light of these two statutes, the court rejected DW’s reliance on the six-year “catch-all” statute of limitations, Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657-1(4). Finally, the court concluded that, like the federal takings claim, DW’s state takings claim under the Hawai‘i Constitution is time-barred under either Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 657-7 or 661-5. The court thus dismissed this action in its entirety, and DW filed a timely notice of appeal.