City, blind vendors
settle lawsuit

By Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin

The city will pay at least $50,000 a year into a benefits fund for blind vendors from the profits of 90 food and drink vending machines in city buildings.

The financial boon for the independent snack stand operators comes in settlement of a suit filed by nine vendors who complained that many of the machines popping up in corners and corridors violate state law.

The city also agreed to pay $150,000 to the vendors' attorneys, Stanley Levin and Evan Shirley.

The settlement agreement, which will go to Circuit Judge Bambi Weil for hearing June 14, asks the judge to declare the suit a class-action, benefitting all vendors and ending the prospect of future suits.

The state law provides that the blind be given priority in operating vending facilities in public buildings. The state Department of Human Services administers the system of permits, placement and collection of profits from vending machines.

City Corporation Counsel David Arakawa said the city followed a 1980s attorney general's opinion that only the proceeds from machines that compete with an existing blind vendor stand must go into the pension and medical benefits account.

"There was a subsequent case at the airport when the attorney general gave a different opinion, that it applies to all proceeds. We didn't know about that," Arakawa said.

A second issue in the case led Honolulu and Hawaii County to file an appeal against the state Department of Human Resources for recent rules asserting that the department decides where vending machines may go.

"That's a home rule issue," said Arakawa. "We said, 'Wait a minute, you can't tell counties where to put machines in their own buildings.' " The settlement provides for contested case hearings if there is disagreement between city and state.