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Home Lands suit
claims poor construction

By Anthony Sommer
Kauai correspondent

LIHUE -- Twenty one Anahola families have sued the Hawaiian Homes Commission over a long list of alleged defects in homes they bought from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands only four years ago.

The homes were built without proper caulking and fitting and fastening of materials, and leak whenever it rains, the suit claims.

Also named in the suit, filed in Kauai Circuit Court, were Sioi Construction Co. and Stanford Knowles, a Texas architect who designed the homes. Knowles said in a telephone interview that he did not supervise construction and that he was unaware of any problems. The other two defendants refused to comment.

The suit, filed by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., contends the agency and Sioi Construction ignored both the county building code and manufacturers' specifications in building the homes.

Hawaiian Home Lands is exempt from county building codes but generally follows them to obtain insurance.

The lawsuit does not specify the cost of repairing the damage.

The case echoes a legal battle over 50 Panaewa houses on the Big Island built in 1991 and 1992 for Hawaiian Home Lands by Glenn Lindsey Construction.