Court Opinion

ID: 9965287
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-05-02 00:03:23.351702+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:24:51.115073
License: Public Domain

*** NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI‘I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER ***

                                                              Electronically Filed
                                                              Supreme Court
                                                              SCRQ-XX-XXXXXXX
                                                              01-MAY-2024
                                                              01:34 PM
                                                              Dkt. 12 SO

                            SCRQ-XX-XXXXXXX

           IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAI‘I

                         JUAN ANGEL RUBALCABA,
                          Plaintiff-Appellant,

                                    vs.

       ASSOCIATION OF APARTMENT OWNERS OF MAKAKILO CLIFFS,
              by and through its Board of Directors,
            Defendant/Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellee,

                                    and

      PORTER McGUIRE KIAKONA, LLP, fka Porter Tom Quitiquit
    Chee & Watts, LLP and Porter McGuire Kiakona & Chow, LLP;
       and EKIMOTO & MORRIS LLLC, Third-Party Defendants.

 RESERVED QUESTION FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT
                   (CASE NO. 1CCV-XX-XXXXXXX)

                      SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER
   (By: Recktenwald, C.J., McKenna, and Eddins, JJ., Circuit Judge
 Remigio and Circuit Judge Johnson, assigned by reason of vacancies)

     This court agreed to answer a reserved question from the

Circuit Court of the First Circuit.        The circuit court asked:

          In a wrongful foreclosure case brought by a homeowner
          against a homeowners’ association, should the mortgage debt
          of the homeowner to a third-party lender(s) that was
          discharged by the third-party lender’s subsequent
          foreclosure be considered in determining/calculating the
          Plaintiff’s damages?
 *** NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI‘I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER ***

      We accepted the reserved question, advising that we

intended to answer it through Wong v. Ass’n of Apartment Owners

of Harbor Square, SCAP-XX-XXXXXXX, a case then pending before

us.

      We decided Wong on February 29, 2024 and entered final

judgment on April 2, 2024.      154 Hawaiʻi 58, 545 P.3d 547 (2024).

Our decision describes how a plaintiff may calculate damages in

a lawsuit against a condominium association for wrongful

foreclosure.

      Accordingly, we remand the case to the circuit court for

further proceedings consistent with Wong.

           DATED:   Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, May 1, 2024.

Steven K.S. Chung and                    /s/ Mark E. Recktenwald
Anthony F.T. Suetsugu
for appellant                            /s/ Sabrina S. McKenna

                                         /s/ Todd W. Eddins
Gene K. Lau
for appellee                             /s/ Catherine H. Remigio

                                         /s/ Ronald G. Johnson

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