Maui County sues cell carriers for noncompliance amid fires
Maui County filed a lawsuit Wednesday against wireless service providers for not notifying it of network outages or providing delayed, incomplete information while emergency management officials tried to send evacuation alerts during the Aug. 8 wildfires, which killed at least 101.
The county uses direct text messaging, or Wireless Emergency Alert messaging, to send important information to residents and visitors, according to the civil complaint filed Wednesday afternoon in Maui Circuit Court.
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The third-party complaint is designed to hold the wireless carriers responsible for their failure to properly inform the Maui Police Department in a timely manner of widespread cellular service outages on Aug. 8 to 9 “during the height of the County’s emergency response” to the fires, according to a news release from the county.
“A timely and complete report is critical to the County’s ability to mitigate the impacts of a service outage during emergencies,” said County of Maui Corporation Counsel Victoria J. Takayesu, in a statement.
On Aug. 8-9, the lawsuit states, while “courageous first responders battled fires across the island and worked to provide first aid and evacuate individuals to safety,” officials used numerous alerts and warnings, “including through direct text messaging to individual cell phones.”
“The County sent at least fourteen (14) separate Wireless Emergency Alert messages to individuals’ cell phones during this time frame, warning residents to immediately evacuate and otherwise providing important information in connection with the wildfires,” wrote David J. Minkin, an attorney with McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon LLP, who was retained by Takayesu. “Unbeknownst to the County, these alerts and warnings were not received by Maui’s residents, visitors, or citizens because cell towers across the island were experiencing widespread service outages.”
County officials later learned that all 21 cell towers serving West Maui, including Lahaina, experienced “total cell service failure” on Aug. 8-9, according to the suit. Numerous additional cell towers serving Kula and Olinda also failed during the fires on Aug. 8 and Aug. 9.
“Throughout its emergency response on Aug. 8 and Aug. 9, 2023, the County was not aware of these widespread failures,” according to the complaint.
Under federal law, the wireless carriers are required to “timely report service outages to the County’s 911 service operators,” in part because service outages can “prevent the transmission of emergency information such as 911 calls, emergency text messages, and communications between first responders,” the suit says, noting that reports must be sent to the county officials within 30 minutes of an outage.
The report must contain “details about the nature and geographic extent of the outage” to give 911-service operators the ability to “mitigate the impacts that loss of cell coverage has on emergency services.”
The lawsuit named Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile US Inc., Spectrum Mobile LLC, Spectrum Mobile Equipment, AT&T Mobility LLC and other unnamed defendants, alleging negligence, equitable indemnity, contribution and apportionment of fault and declaratory relief.
