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IN HAWAII

City Bank presses ahead on Big Island

City Bank, moving ahead with its expansion plans despite the threat of a hostile takeover from its rival, said yesterday it will open its second branch on the Big Island, its 22nd overall.

The bank also unveiled an Internet online service that will provide customers with information on interest rates being offered at City Bank's CDShop and allow customers to open new time deposit accounts online. "CDShop Online," which can be found at www.citybank hawaii.com, also will allow current accountholders to renew their maturing time accounts online.

City Bank said it has received regulatory approval for the new branch that will open Aug. 9 in the Crossroads Shopping Center in Kailua-Kona. City Bank's other Big Island branch is in Hilo. City Bank, with $1.7 billion in assets, also has branches on Oahu and Maui.

Meanwhile, state Circuit Court Judge Victoria Marks has been scheduled to hear parent company CB Bancshares Inc.'s summary judgment motion seeking a dismissal of separate complaints made by potential acquirer Central Pacific Financial Corp. and CB shareholder Barbara Clarridge. Marks previously denied CPF and Clarridge motions seeking to stop a CB special shareholders meeting held Wednesday. The hearing is set for 2:15 p.m. June 17.

City Bank spokesman Wayne Miyao said the bank wants the cases dismissed so that they can't be amended later.

Hawaiian Air pilot files $40M claim

A Hawaiian Airlines pilot who accused company officials of illegally entering his secure Internet site eight years ago is continuing his fight against the bankrupt carrier.

Robert Konop submitted a claim yesterday for more than $40 million with U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Konop is seeking more than $10 million for unfair labor practice, $10 million for illegal communications access, $20 million for illegal wiretap and more than $4,000 for legal expenses.

In 1995, Konop's Web site criticized proposed wage concessions that were supported at the time by the Air Line Pilots Association, and urged pilots to consider getting new union representatives. The site was intended only for certain pilots who were required to log in with a user name and password.

The lawsuit said an airline official gained access to the site and alerted the union to it after asking a pilot who was eligible to view it for permission to use the pilot's user name and password.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last August handed a partial victory to Konop when it reversed the California District Court's summary judgment against claims Konop made against the airline under the Stored Communications Act.

It also reversed the summary judgment against Konop's claim that the airline was guilty of violating the Railway Labor Act for alleged interference with organizing activities, wrongful support of a union faction, and coercion and intimidation.

In yesterday's filing, Konop said the "illegal access and acquisitions were accomplished for the purposes of circumventing employee union organization rights and to facilitate the purchase of Hawaiian by John Adams, Smith Management, and Adams' Airline investment Partners."