The City and County of Honolulu and an 83-year-old woman who sued the city over $600,000 in fines are trying to reach a settlement.
In May, Wilhelmina Rise resident Sandra May sued the City and County of Honolulu in federal court after she racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines by incorrectly listing a rental property as available to short-term tenants.
May, who her lawyer said “struggles to utilize any kind of technology,” intended to list her rental unit only for periods of 30 days or more, but had accidentally listed it as available for shorter periods on multiple occasions. The third time this happened, in 2024, the city informed her that her lapse would incur daily $10,000 fines until she corrected it, which she did 59 days and $590,000 later.
An additional $10,000 lien the city placed on May’s property brought the total amount she owed to an even $600,000.
May’s attorney Loren Seehase told Aloha State Daily in May that the city did not tell May of any way to challenge or appeal the fines, leaving her no choice but to challenge them on U.S. constitutional grounds: specifically, as a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which protects against excessive fines.
On Monday, however, attorneys for the defendants — which, along with the city, included Dawn Apuna, director of the county Department of Planning and Permitting, and the department itself — submitted a statement to the court informing it that the case will likely be dismissed.
According to that statement, May and the defendants “have agreed to a stipulated fine amount” and are in the process of drawing up a settlement agreement.
Nonetheless, the city’s attorneys argued that May’s claims were unwarranted, and arose from a misunderstanding of DPP’s fine process. According to their statement, DPP must review a fine for appropriateness and make any corresponding reductions before collecting it.
“This fine review process ensures that the department is able to consider any facts that were not within its knowledge at the time of issuing the order,” the statement read.
In this case, May’s administrative appeals have not yet been reviewed, and the city Zoning Board of Appeals has yet to determine whether the fines are appropriate.
An answering brief the city filed in the case earlier this month draws from this line of reasoning: the brief repeatedly argued that May’s claims were premature and that she had not exhausted all the remedies available to her.
However, that brief did also confirm that any listing for a rental offered for less than 30 days can violate the city’s short-term rental ordinance, regardless of whether the unit was actually booked for a short term.
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