High court blocks
delivery of Bishop
board minutes

The Circuit judge must
allow the estate's in-house counsel
to address objections
to the subpoena

By Rick Daysog
Star-Bulletin

The state Supreme Court granted a request to temporarily block the delivery of two boxes of Bishop Estate boardroom minutes subpoenaed in trial to remove trustee Lokelani Lindsey.

In an order signed by Chief Justice Ronald Moon yesterday, the high court said that Circuit Judge Bambi Weil must give Bishop Estate's in-house counsel Nathan Aipa and his attorney Howard Luke a reasonable opportunity to address objections to the subpoena.

A hearing on those objections has been scheduled for Wednesday.

On Monday, Weil ruled that Aipa must deliver the board minutes that cover the March 1993 to November 1998 period to Douglas Ing, an attorney for trustee Oswald Stender.

Weil reiterated that decision the following day, giving Aipa until Saturday morning to deliver the documents to Ing.

Attorneys for the Bishop Estate had objected to delivery of the board minutes, saying that many of the records were confidential and should be protected by attorney-client privilege.

Luke said Weil's ruling put Aipa in the difficult position of disobeying a court order or violating his ethical obligations to the estate.

Luke said he was concerned that Weil did not give him the chance to address Aipa's concerns before her ruling, prompting him to seek a writ of mandamus from the Supreme Court to direct Weil to reconsider.

Ing subpoenaed the records last Friday for the Lindsey removal case.

Stender and fellow Bishop Estate trustee Gerard Jervis allege that Lindsey breached her fiduciary duties, mismanaged the estate-run Kamehameha Schools and is unfit to serve on the estate's five-member board.

That trial, now in its second month, continues today.