Kitty K. Kamaka, Plaintiff-Appellant/cross-Appellee v. Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel, a Law Corporation…

Summary

The Hawai'i Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court's December 24, 2003 final judgment for Goodsill and the accompanying order awarding Goodsill $364,154.25 in attorneys' fees and $64,865.24 in costs, after Goodsill's renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law erased Kitty Kamaka's sole jury victory—a $209,937.91 award on her breach-of-implied-contract claim based on the firm's employee manual. The court held that RSCH Rule 2.8's absolute immunity bars malicious prosecution suits predicated on complaints to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, upheld the pretrial disposal of Kamaka's tortious-interference and negligent-investigation claims, sustained both denials of leave to amend, found the manual contained nothing altering at-will employment, and concluded the fee award was adequately documented and correctly calculated under HRS § 607-14. Goodsill's cross-appeal challenging evidentiary rulings and jury instructions was not addressed as unnecessary.