Two Years After the Maui Wildfire: Where the Lahaina Litigation Stands

On August 8, 2023, a fast-moving wildfire driven by hurricane-force winds destroyed most of the historic town of Lahaina on the island of Maui. The fire killed more than 100 people, displaced thousands, and burned an estimated 2,000-plus structures. It was the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century.

In the two years since, the legal aftermath has produced one of the largest single-event mass-tort proceedings in recent memory. As the second anniversary approaches in early August, this is a short look at where that litigation stands and what survivors and their families should know.

How the cases were brought together

In Hawaii state court, the various wildfire cases were consolidated and coordinated under a single judge for pretrial purposes. The principal defendants named in those cases include:

• Hawaiian Electric and its subsidiary Maui Electric Company — alleged to have negligently maintained equipment and failed to de-energize lines as fire-weather warnings were issued
• The State of Hawaii and the County of Maui — based on emergency-response and dispatching decisions, vegetation management on public land, and water-supply availability during the fire
• Kamehameha Schools and other large landowners — based on vegetation management on private land
• Various contractors and other parties depending on the specific facts of each plaintiff's claim

The procedural mechanics of consolidation in Hawaii are not identical to a California JCCP, but the structure that emerged serves similar functions: common discovery is centralized, common motions are decided once, and individual cases are processed against a single procedural framework.

The 2024 global settlement

In August 2024 — almost exactly one year after the fire — a global settlement framework of approximately $4 billion was announced among the principal defendants and the plaintiff group. The settlement was the result of months of mediation. Its allocation, claim-verification, and distribution mechanics have been the focus of the proceeding ever since.

A few procedural points to keep in mind:

• A global settlement is not the end. The framework establishes a total fund and a process for getting that fund to claimants. Individual claimants then participate in an allocation process that evaluates each claim on its specific facts (property loss, personal injury, wrongful death, lost income, evacuation expenses, and so on). Allocation is itself a multi-month, sometimes multi-year process.
• Insurance subrogation. Insurers that paid out fire claims hold subrogation interests in their insureds' tort recoveries. Whether and how those interests are honored materially affects how much survivors receive from the fund. The Hawaii Supreme Court addressed key questions about subrogation in early 2025 (covered in a follow-up post).
• Litigation continues for non-settling defendants and non-participating claimants. The global settlement does not bind every defendant or every claimant. Cases that fall outside the settlement continue under the consolidated procedural framework.

What this looks like for an individual survivor

For someone whose home, business, or family was directly affected by the Lahaina fire, two years out, the practical questions are usually:

1. Am I in the proceeding? Survivors who filed claims early are participants in the coordinated proceeding and the settlement framework. Survivors who did not file remain subject to Hawaii's statute of limitations and any tolling rules that apply.
2. What documentation will I need? Property records, insurance policies and claim files, photographs and inventories, medical records for injuries, lost-income documentation, and a written timeline of events from the morning of the fire through the displacement period.
3. What about my insurance? Most survivors filed insurance claims independently. The insurance side and the tort side run on parallel tracks and interact in non-obvious ways at the allocation stage; coordinating them is part of representation.
4. When will I see allocation? Allocation timelines for mass-tort settlements of this size are measured in months to years, not weeks. Timeline expectations should be calibrated accordingly.

A note on jurisdiction

The Maui wildfire cases are pending in Hawaii state court. Counsel in those cases are generally admitted to practice in Hawaii. California-licensed attorneys appear in Hawaii cases on a pro hac vice basis with Hawaii co-counsel, under the rules of the Hawaii courts. For California residents who lost property or family in the Lahaina fire, the firm participates in the Hawaii proceeding through pro-hac-vice arrangements with Hawaii co-counsel where appropriate.

If you are a survivor and have not yet talked to a lawyer

If you were affected by the Lahaina fire and have not yet engaged counsel — or you engaged counsel earlier but have lost touch with the proceeding — it is worth a no-cost consultation to understand where you stand. The firm can review your situation, identify any deadlines that are still running, and explain how a participation decision today fits with the existing settlement framework.

Please contact the firm if that would be useful.

This article is general information and not legal advice. The Maui wildfire proceeding has produced significant developments since the fire, and additional developments will continue. Specific situations need specific review with current authority and counsel admitted in the relevant jurisdiction.