Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 9, 1 September 1997 — Imperfect Title: Courts reject logic behind clouding [ARTICLE]

Imperfect Title: Courts reject logic behind clouding

Title from page 1 Perfect Title's "Claim #00000005. Edith K. Mar" listing as previous pareel owners Sanford Dole and George Trousseau, concludes that "the sole issue affecting the estate claimed by the present claimant is: Can any eontestant to the Estate of W.C. Lunalilo prove that Sanford B. Dole and, eonsequently, Dr. George Trousseau did not commit the act of high treason, as defined in section 1, chapter VI of the Hawaiian Penal Code." Last April, when loeal media reported the loss of Mar's Kapahulu home, some people wondered whether state authorities would get involved. When the Honolulu Advertiser asked that question, Deputy Attorney General Randall Young said the State had to be careful about infringing on freedom of expression. As recently as Aug. 4, the date the class action suit was filed, Joanne Uchida of the Office of Consumer Protection said that no one had ever expressed any eoneem to her office. She did add that the Attorney General was looking into the matter, but Deputy Attorney General Rick Damerville would only say, "We don't comment on criminal investigations until they are completed." So far, courts have rejected Perfect Title documents recorded at the

Bureau of Conveyances. In a quiet title aehon, Andrade v. Perfect Title, brought last year, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation represented several landowners whose sale of a Kona parcel could not proceed because of Perfect Title's report. Judge Ronald Ibarra ordered the report expunged and awarded damages and attomeys' fees. In an order filed July 22 in a condemnation suit, U.S. District Judge

David Ezra called Perfect Title's challenge to the state of Hawai'i's title "utterly and completely without merit." According to Perfect Title, ownership of the parcel in question had vested in "Samuel Damon, deceased, subject to criminal proceedings ... for the crime of treason." But Ezra found that charges of treason do not

"freeze" title. He also said Perfect Title had no authority to invalidate property conveyances because, among other reasons, "there is no reasonable indication that David Sai serves as the legal representative for the former Kingdom (of Hawai'i) or for all native Hawaiians." — Scott Whitney contributed to ■this article.