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Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire



IN HAWAII

State lemon law handles 49 cases

Ford Motor Co. and Honda were recognized as the most improved auto manufacturers yesterday when the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs released figures on complaints received under its lemon law program.

Ford had 7 complaints, down from 12 and Honda had 2, down from 10.

The program, which provides arbitration services for lemon law claims, handled 49 cases last year and recovered more than $407,000 for consumers.

Of the 49 cases, 13 were settled and 35 went to arbitration. All but 11 were decided in favor of the consumer.

General Motors received most complaints with 15 -- more than twice as many as any other brand. The company settled only one case and lost 12 of the 14 arbitrations held. In all GM refunded $219,520.

Daimler Chrysler got 7 complaints related to it's Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep divisions. Mazda and Nissan each got 3 complaints. Volkswagen also received 3 complaints with one withdrawn and another settled in favor of the company. BMW and Kia each settled a single case. Toyota got 2 complaints and had one settled in its favor.

Attorney reprimanded for shoddy work

A Honolulu attorney was reprimanded by the Hawaii Supreme Court's disciplinary board yesterday for poorly representing two of his clients.

The board imposed a public reprimand against attorney Steve Cedillos for "failing to act with reasonable diligence in representing two clients."

Cedillos, 51, twice failed to appear as scheduled in District Court on behalf of a client who retained Cedillos to contest a speeding ticket. As a result a default judgment was entered against the client, the disciplinary board said.

In the second case, Cedillos showed up late for a trail in a paternity case and the client had to represent himself, officials said.

Hospitality expo draws record participation

Setbacks in the Hawaii economy have not affected bookings for Hawaii's largest hospitality and food trade show, the organizers say. The Hawaii Lodging, Hospitality & Foodservice Expo, to take place July 10 and 11 at the Blaisdell Center, will have 330 vendors and 520 booths, a record that includes 100 new exhibitors, said managers Douglas Trade Shows.

Last year, 4,650 hospitality industry buyers attended the show, which features foods, drinks, furnishings, laundry and linens, and a host of services for hotels, restaurants, hospitals and other segments of the hospitality industry.

The show is not open to the public but those with buying authority for businesses can get in with proof of their connection or a business card and picture identification.

ON THE MAINLAND

Dock work slowdown deemed unlikely

SAN FRANCISCO >> West Coast ports that handle billions of dollars of goods should remain open unless shipping lines conclude the dockworkers they employ are staging a deliberate work slowdown.

The longshoremen's union has promised not to strike, and shipping lines have said they'll only lock out the 10,500 workers who staff docks at the nation's 29 major Pacific ports if they show up but don't do their jobs as efficiently as normal.

The contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association expired Monday, though both sides approved a 24-hour extension both Monday and yesterday. The deal covers ports from San Diego to Seattle that last year handled $260 billion in cargo, according to the association. The union hasn't circulated word of a slowdown, and an association spokesman said yesterday he didn't expect any such labor disruption as long as the two sides kept talking.


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[Hawaii Inc.]

NEW JOBS

>> Shirley C. Zhuang was named director of the Adult Service Center at Hawaii Pacific University. Zhuang will work with academic deans to insure appropriate scheduling of courses, and provide academic advising to students. 

ON THE BOARD

>> Michael M.S. Chun was elected chairman of Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo by the firm''s board of directors. Chun will remain actively involved with architectural projects while assuming additional responsibilities relative to directing the business operations of the board. He succeeds Donald W.Y. Goo, who remains active in the firm as senior vice president. Chun has directed numerous award-winning resort projects including Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando, Fla., and Fiesta Americana Hotel and Timeshare in Los Cabos, Mexico. He is working on projects in California, Florida, Egypt, Singapore, Mexico and Ireland.

>> The Institute for Human Services Inc. has elected Patrick K.S.L. Yim as president of the board. Also at IHS, Cha Thompson was elected vice-president, Keith Steiner was elected treasurer and Sherman Hee was elected secretary. New board members include Edmond Aczon, Rebecca Dixon Bates, Dick Dubonoski, Kevin Gleason, Angela Hardy Isaac, Patsy Kirio, Alvin Sakamoto, Arun Savara, Ron Taketa and Laurence Vogel.

RECOGNITION

>> David Pietsch Jr., Hawaii president of Title Guaranty Escrow Services, was awarded the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award for Advances in Technology Benefiting the Settlement Services Industry at the National Settlement Services Conference in Las Vegas. The award recognizes his role in the real estate software products TGExpress.com and RealCentral.com.

>> Sue Kenwolf has been named national Web publisher of the month by CB Richard Ellis Hawaii's parent company. Her maintenance of the Hawaii office's pages on the corporate Web site was awarded "Best of Class" status. The Hawaii office is one of the more than 250 CB Richard Ellis offices worldwide.





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