Big Island lawsuit focuses on settlement’s disclosure

Kamehameha Schools is suing an unidentified non-Hawaiian student and his mother for disclosing a confidential settlement reached last year in a 2003 lawsuit challenging the schools' admission policy.

The schools' lawsuit filed yesterday in state court on the Big Island is "separate and unrelated" to another lawsuit filed in federal court that also challenges the admissions policy, according to a message from the Kamehameha Schools trustees and Chief Executive Officer Dee Jay Mailer.

In February former attorney John Goemans revealed that the school paid $7 million to settle the 2003 case after a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Kamehameha Schools.

Goemans said yesterday that he was not the attorney for the plaintiffs -- identified only as John and Jane Doe -- at the time of the settlement and was not bound by the confidentiality agreement.

Goemans said he learned of the settlement amount from attorney Eric Grant before the settlement was agreed to.

"It wasn't a breach of the confidentiality agreement because there was not a confidentiality agreement at that time," Goemans said.

Kamehameha Schools attorney Paul Alston said court documents show Goemans did represent the plaintiffs.

"His effort to try to weasel out of his role is baseless," Alston said.

Goemans also argues that because Kamehameha Schools is a tax-exempt organization, it must disclose the settlement and cannot enter into secret agreements.

Alston said the school complied with federal disclosure requirements and does not have to specifically disclose the settlement amount.

Kamehameha Schools is seeking attorneys' fees and other costs that it spent to respond to the disclosure, plus other damages.

"The disclosure of the amount caused some significant disruption and caused KS (Kamehameha Schools) to devote time and energy from other useful things to try and respond to the story," Alston said.