IF there's an official award for someone who stands by his or her principles, no matter what the cost, please get it ready for Big Island resident Albert Jeyte (pronounced Yi-teh). Feisty landlord
to get his day in courtIn March of last year, I wrote two columns about the local landlord, who was sued by the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission when he chose not to rent a one-bedroom, one-bath cottage in Manoa to a family of four.
Jeyte believed his decision was based on common sense, and the prerogative of a private landlord to decide how many people could comfortably and safely live within a rental.
But the HCRC said Jeyte, the owner of Kilauea Lodge on the Big Island, was discriminating against the "familial" status of Jack Hobbs, his wife and two young children. When the Hobbses were rejected as tenants in 1993, the HCRC said, it damaged their "feelings, emotional and mental well-being, personal integrity...and access to the quiet enjoyment of a home."
The HCRC believed Jeyte could have rented the one-bedroom cottage to the family, theorizing the parents could have slept in the bedroom while the kids slept in the living room.
Then Jeyte's attorney, Perry W. Confalone, discovered that state health regulations prohibited using the cottage living room as a sleeping area, if it meant having to pass through a bedroom to use a bathroom, which was the case at the Jeyte property.
But instead of admitting it was wrong and backing off, the HCRC argued the entire family of four could have slept in the living room, thus avoiding a violation of the state health code. It still wanted to take Jeyte to court.
From the beginning, though, the HCRC kept tempting Jeyte with offers to settle. If he would "just" hand over a few thousand dollars, it would drop the whole thing.
Jeyte, after consulting with his wife, Lorna, just said no. He knew he was right and the HCRC was wrong. Jeyte told his lawyer to stand fast against the state agency, and to fight this thing all the way up to the Supreme Court, if necessary.
That order resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys fees and years of legal wrangling for the Jeytes. Even when the HCRC dismissed all claims three weeks before the scheduled trial in January 1997, when Jeyte's insurance company agreed to settle for less than $10,000, Confalone pressed onward, spurred by his client's directive.
He filed an appeal with the Hawaii Supreme Court for the right to countersue the HCRC for "negligent investigation" of discrimination complaints, because the commission believed it was shielded from lawsuits based on "sovereign (state) immunity."
ON June 30, the justices came out with their ruling -- nearly five years to the month that Hobbs got turned down as a tenant. In a unanimous published decision, they held that the HCRC had a duty to use "reasonable care" when investigating complaints of unlawful discrimination, and that, yes, it can be sued for damages if it ignores clear defenses and proceeds with court or administrative actions against "innocent" defendants.
That's all Jeyte ever wanted -- the opportunity to stand his ground and, now, to go to court and sue the HCRC for "negligent investigation" to recoup his legal fees and compensate him for years of emotional distress. Whether he wins or loses, in his mind, Albert Jeyte has already won.
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
DianeChang@aol.com, or by fax at 523-7863.