September 20, 2013
Hawaii

Hawaii PUC dismisses claims to disqualify law firm from Lanai wind farm project

Duane Shimogawa, Reporter- Pacific Business News | Sep 20, 2013 | www.bizjournals.com

Hawaii regulators have dismissed the requests by a couple of Lanai residents to disqualify a Honolulu law firm from representing Castle & Cooke in the case involving a proposed 200-megawatt Lanai wind farm project.

On Wednesday, the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission also set a deadline of Oct. 4 for any requests to be filed or re-filed to disqualify the Law Firm of Yamamoto Caliboso LLC.

Carlito Caliboso, who is a partner at the firm, was a former chairman of the PUC.

Castle & Cooke, which filed a request to dismiss Kaulana Kahoohalahala and Matthew Mano’s complaint, said previously that both Caliboso and his firm are in compliance with “Hawaii Rules of Professional Conduct” because the current case involves a new matter that is separate and distinct from other dockets in which Caliboso took part in when he was the chairman of the PUC.

The Lanai-based community group Friends of Lanai also was against Caliboso and his firm representing Castle & Cooke in the case, but the PUC also dismissed its request on Wednesday.

In July, the PUC decided to review Castle & Cooke’s Lanai wind farm project in a separate filing from a draft request for proposals for 200 megawatts or more of renewable energy for Oahu.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/09/20/hawaii-puc-dismisses-claims-to-disqualify-law-firm-from-lanai-wind-farm-project/