Current:Home > ScamsLawyers claim cable TV and phone companies also responsible in Maui fires -Quantum Capital Pro
Lawyers claim cable TV and phone companies also responsible in Maui fires
Will Sage Astor View
Date:2025-04-09 20:23:09
HONOLULU (AP) — After a visit to a warehouse where Hawaiian Electric Company is housing power poles and electrical equipment that may be key to the investigation of last month’s devastating fires on Maui, lawyers for Lahaina residents and business owners told a court Tuesday that cable TV and telephone companies share responsibility for the disaster because they allegedly overloaded and destabilized some of the poles.
The lawyers said the cables were attached in a way that put too much tension on the poles, causing them to lean and break in the winds on Aug. 8 when flames burned down much of Lahaina, killing at least 115 people and destroying more than 2,000 structures.
LippSmith LLP has filed a proposed class action against Hawaii’s electric utility and Maui County in state court in Hawaii. Attorney Graham LippSmith is now asking the court to add multiple telecommunications companies and public and private landowners to the original suit.
“In a disaster of this magnitude, it takes some time for all the potentially responsible parties to come into focus and be brought into court. Our investigation thus far shows a constellation of many serious failures that together led to this horrible tragedy,” MaryBeth LippSmith, co-founder of the Hawaii- and California-based firm, said in an interview Tuesday.
Pacific Gas & Electric in California filed for bankruptcy in 2019 due to a succession of harrowing wildfires ignited by its long-neglected electrical grid in Northern California.
But LippSmith rejected the suggestion the firm is seeking extra defendants in the event that Hawaiian Electric declares bankruptcy. Rather it’s trying to get at the root of multiple failures in order to prevent this kind of tragedy in the future, she said. The lawsuit seeks damages and injunctive relief, including a court order to force the defendants to address fire risk.
When LippSmith’s team visited the warehouse, together with officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, they said they saw a pole that had snapped at the base and fallen to the ground, damaging the cross arms of a neighboring pole. Because sections of poles had been cut up, apparently with a chainsaw, they could not tell if one pole or several had snapped, and they said they were not allowed close enough to identify pole numbers.
The cables had also been stripped off the poles and Hawaiian Electric only brought its own equipment to the warehouse, they said. The sterile display bears little relation to the equipment after the fire, so the attorneys and their fire investigators viewed pre-fire photos of the poles. They said those showed no slack in the cable TV and telephone lines that ran between the poles, mid-height. That over-tensioning and the uneven distribution of weight caused the poles to lean downhill, they claim.
Charter Communications, which owns cable provider Spectrum, declined to comment.
The proposed amended complaint still holds the power utilities responsible for the wildfires. It accuses them of failing to shut off power preemptively despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions, failing to replace old wooden poles too weak to withstand 105 mile per hours winds as required by a 2002 national standard, briefly recharging the lines on Aug. 8 in parts of Lahaina and blocking evacuation routes while crews serviced downed lines.
The complaint also seeks to hold other parties responsible. It says when old wooden power poles fell, they landed on highly flammable vegetation that had not been maintained by private and state landowners and both “ignited the fire and fueled its cataclysmic spread.” It says the county should have properly maintained vegetation, aggressively reduced nonnative plants, and sounded sirens to warn people of the approaching fire.
Hawaiian Electric acknowledged last week that its power lines started a fire on the morning of Aug. 8, but faulted county firefighters for declaring the blaze contained and then leaving the scene, only to have a second wildfire break out nearby and become the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century.
Hawaiian Electric is a for-profit, investor-owned, publicly traded utility that serves 95% of Hawaii’s electric customers. It faces a spate of new lawsuits that seek to hold it responsible.
In response to a request for comment, a utility spokesperson said Tuesday the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation. The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, named as a defendant, said the same.
“We are awaiting guidance from our legal counsel before addressing,” a Maui County spokesperson said when asked for comment.
Maui County is blaming the utility for failing to shut off power. John Fiske, an attorney at a California firm that’s representing the county, has said the ultimate responsibility rests with Hawaiian Electric to properly keep up its equipment, and make sure lines are not live when they’re downed or could be downed.
___
McDermott reported from Providence, Rhode Island.
___
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
veryGood! (93967)
Related
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- Phone lines down in multiple courts across California after ransomware attack
- John Mayall, Godfather of British Blues, dies at 90 amid 'health issues'
- Wildfire smoke chokes parts of Canada and western U.S., with some areas under air quality alerts
- Retirement planning: 3 crucial moves everyone should make before 2025
- Strike Chain Trading Center: The Importance of the US MSB License
- Biotech company’s CEO pleads guilty in Mississippi welfare fraud case
- SSW Management Institute: a Role Model for Social Development
- The Louvre will be renovated and the 'Mona Lisa' will have her own room
- Why Tennis Star Jannik Sinner Is Dropping Out of 2024 Paris Olympics
Ranking
- Nevada attorney general revives 2020 fake electors case
- Man shot and killed after grabbing for officer’s gun during struggle in suburban Denver, police say
- SSW Management Institute: The Birthplace of Dreams
- Melania Trump to tell her story in memoir, ‘Melania,’ scheduled for this fall
- Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
- Harris plans to continue to build presidential momentum in speech to teachers union
- Secret DEA files show agents joked about rape in WhatsApp chat. Then one of them was accused of it.
- Pregnant Hailey Bieber Confirms Husband Justin Bieber Gifted Her Stunning New Ring
Recommendation
Grammy nominee Teddy Swims on love, growth and embracing change
Prince Harry Reveals Central Piece of Rift With Royal Family
Paris Olympics highlights: France hammers USMNT in opener, soccer and rugby results
FBI searches home of former aide to New York Gov Kathy Hochul
Travis Hunter, the 2
Powerhouse Fiji dominates U.S. in rugby sevens to lead Pool C. Team USA is in 3rd
Taylor Swift explains how she created 'Folklore' on album's fourth anniversary
Blaze Pizza franchisee hit with child labor violations in Nevada, fined over $277K