Federal gov’t files suit against Hawaii company
HONOLULU — The federal government is trying to foreclose on the assets of Sandwich Isles Communications Inc. to recover $128 million in principal and interest the company owes.
The lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice is about delinquent U.S. Department of Agriculture loans.
Sandwich Isles has an exclusive license to provide telecommunications services on Hawaiian Home Lands, and borrowed more than $166.7 million from the department to help finance its fiber optic telecommunications network throughout the Hawaii Islands.
According to the lawsuit filed last week, company founder Albert Hee told federal officials in 2013 that the company could no longer make the payments of more than $1 million per month for its loans.
Hee was convicted of federal tax fraud in 2015 and sentenced to 46 months in federal prison.
The suit seeks a foreclosure judgment against Sandwich Isles and an order requiring the company’s assets be sold.
Lawmakers pass bump stock ban
HONOLULU — State lawmakers passed legislation banning bump stocks.
Bump stocks allow guns to be fired like assault weapons. The gunman who killed 58 people and injured hundreds in Las Vegas last October used the device.
The state Senate voted 24-0 to pass the measure Wednesday. The House passed the bill earlier this month. Spokeswoman for Gov. David Ige, Jodi Leong, says he supports the bill.
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington and Vermont each banned the devices since the Las Vegas shooting. Florida’s governor last month signed a bill banning them, but the National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit challenging it.
Lawsuit filed over American Airlines passenger’s death
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The family of a South Carolina woman filed a wrongful death lawsuit against American Airlines, accusing the company of negligence in her death following a medical emergency during a flight two years ago.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in South Carolina earlier this month, relatives of Brittany Oswell say the 25-year-old nurse suffered an embolism in April 2016 while on an American flight from Honolulu to Dallas.
The lawsuit accuses the airline of negligence for failing to divert and having faulty medical equipment. Oswell remained on life support at a Dallas hospital for three days, and doctors determined she suffered cardiac arrest, pulmonary embolism and respiratory failure.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from American Airlines. In a statement, the company said it feels sympathy for Oswell’s family and is looking into details of the case.
