OUR ADVOCACY

CASES

Enforcing the Public's Right to Transparency

The following case summaries and select court filings provide a resource for those seeking to enforce public rights of access.

In re Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest

The Law Center moved to unseal documents filed under seal without public explanation in United States v. Gerard K. Puana, 13-CR-735 LEK, and other related[...]

Honolulu Civil Beat v. Department of Education

Online publication Civil Beat challenged the Department of Education’s refusal to provide documents concerning 34 closed cases of employee misconduct reported to the Board of[...]

In re Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest

The Law Center objected to several motions to seal filed by Defendants Katherine Kealoha, Gordon Shiraishi, and Minh-Hung Nguyen in an effort to conceal documents[...]

In re Motion to Unseal Court Records

The Law Center moved to unseal multiple documents filed under seal without apparent explanation in United States v. Katherine P. Kealoha, 17-CR-582 JMS RLP-1. The[...]

Walden v. Hiilei Aloha LLC

Plaintiff Andrew Walden, Editor of Hawaii Free Press, filed an action to obtain copies of the check registers and income/expense statements of three limited liability[...]

League of Women Voters of Honolulu & Common Cause v. State of Hawaii

League of Women Voters of Honolulu and Common Cause challenged whether the process for adopting Act 84 (2018) complied with the Hawaii Constitution. The lawsuit[...]

State v. Wellman

Maui News submitted a memorandum supporting the unsealing of court-ordered mental competency reports filed in State v. Ashley Wellman, Cr. No. 2CPC-17-909. In October 2016,[...]

Roy v. GEICO (Confidential Flag)

Edward Wagner found a 2013 Courthouse News Service article describing a Hawaii court case involving allegations of unlawful conduct by GEICO. But when he attempted[...]

SHOPO v. City & County of Honolulu

On February 22, 2018, Civil Beat requested the arbitration decision concerning Darren Cachola. In September 2014, video surfaced that showed Cachola repeatedly beating a woman.[...]

Grube v. Trader

Nick Grube, a reporter at Honolulu Civil Beat, challenged an order entered in State. v. Ahn, Cr. No. 15-1-1338, that sealed all records and docket[...]