9th Circuit appeals
panel here

Star-Bulletin staff

A panel of three judges from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco will be in Honolulu today through Friday to hear more then 30 civil and criminal cases.

Cases include an appeal of a dismissal of a civil rights and Americans with Disabilities Act claim for failure to accommodate a disability in the workplace; an appeal of a holding that a $10 fee for disabled parking permits in Honolulu constitutes a forbidden surcharge under the ADA; the state's appeal of damage awards to individual plaintiffs who successfully challenged Hawaii's QUEST health-care program as in violation of the ADA, and a petition by two environmental groups for review of the FAA's decision to approve expansion of Kahului Airport on Maui.

Other cases include the governor's appeal of Chevron's successful challenge to Hawaii's service station rent control statute; an appeal by Aloha Airlines flight attendants from a denial of their suit to recover damages for the airline's reluctance to abide by arbitration awards to reinstate them, and an appeal by the bricklayers' union in an action to compel arbitration of a dispute involving violation of a collective bargaining agreement through a subcontractor.

The hearings are open to the public.

The 9th Circuit is handling the appeal of an order that temporarily halts the shutdown of the Star-Bulletin, but will not consider that case in its Honolulu hearings.