Mr. Hiatt graduated with honors from Harvard University in 1973.
He received his J.D. from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, William
S. Richardson School of Law in 1977 under a grant from the University
of Hawai‘iʻs East–West Center. During Mr. Hiattʻs final year of law
school, he attended Harvard Law School and was selected as an editor
of the Harvard Environmental Law Review. Mr. Hiatt clerked for the
firm of Baker and McKenzie in Hong Kong in 1975, and then for the
firm now known as Carlsmith Ball LLC in 1976. He joined the Carlsmith
firm in 1977 as an associate. He became a partner with the Carlsmith
firm in 1983 and assisted in directing the Real Estate and Business
Litigation section of that firm, before leaving to help form Bays
Deaver Hiatt Kawachika & Lezak in 1986. He founded his own firm
in January 2001 and now has a general civil litigation practice, Hiatt
& Hiatt, with Mahilani Hiatt based in Honokaa, Hawaii. Mr. Hiatt
has very extensive trial and arbitration experience in a wide variety
of cases representing both plaintiffs and defendants. In the labor
and employment arena, Mr. Hiatt has represented both management (for
example, Hyatt Corporation and Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.) and
hundreds of individual plaintiffs.
In the construction area he has handled claims for and against owners,
developers, architects, contractors, insurers and bonding companies.
He has a detailed working knowledge of construction insurance coverage
issues under applicable law.
Mr. Hiatt has also served as an arbitrator, or as a mediator, in labor,
employment and discrimination disputes, construction disputes, personal
injury cases, real property development disputes, real estate commission
disputes and insurance coverage and bad faith disputes.
A sample of the cases Mr. Hiatt has either tried, arbitrated and/or
handled on appeal include the following. (Individual labor arbitrations
are not listed as they are too numerous, * = full civil jury trial
to verdict; *** = full civil bench trial to verdict; ** = full arbitration
to award which was then satisfied, or which was followed by court
confirmation of the arbitration award.)
- WDC Ventures v. Charles Pankow, Civil No.______, First
Circuit Court (early l980's)*.
- Amfac v. Riblet, Civil No. __________, Second Circuit
Court, Hawaii (1986)*.
- Stanley Joseph, et al. v. United States of America, et al.,
U.S. Dist. Ct. Civ. 87-0201 (1988) ***.
- Morishige v. Spencecliff Corp., 720 F. Supp. 829, U.S.D.C.
(D. Haw. 1989) .
- Eugenia Parnar v. Americana Hotel Inc., et al., Civil
No. 52878, First Circuit Court, Hawaii (1989). (This portion of
the Parnar case involved an attorneys’ fee lien claim on behalf
of the firm of Green, Ning, Lilly & Jones, Parnar’s former counsel,
for fees earned in representing her in her underlying case. Mr.
Hiatt conducted the bench trial for the law firm before Judge Oshiro
in September 1989; the law firm prevailed at trial and on appeal
in Hawaii Supreme Court, No. 14203)***.
- In Re The Ferdinand John Henry Schnack and Mary Pearson Schnack
Trust, S.P. No. 92-0268, First Circuit Court, Hawai‘i (1982).
- Calleon v. Miyagi, 76 Haw. 310, 876 P.2d 1278 (Haw. 1994)*.
- Mathewson v. Aloha Airlines, Inc., 82 Haw. 57, 919 P.2d
969 (Haw. 1995)**.
- Stratton v. Hawaii Electric Light Company, Nos. 95-16142,
95-17262, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 1996
U.S. App. LEXIS 33151, (1996) *.
- Shelton Higa, et al. v. Straub Hospital and Clinic, et al.,
Civil No. 94-0-002126, First Circuit Court, Hawaii (1996) *.
- Mailhiot v. Grand Wailea Co., 85 Haw. 83, 937 P.2d 924
(Haw.1997)**.
- Pancakes of Hawaii v. Pomare Properties Corp., 85 Haw.
286, 944 P.2d 83 (Haw. App. 1997);
- William L. Theobald v. Thomas E. Harrison, M.D., Civil
No. 94-0302, Fifth Circuit Court, Hawaii (1997) *.
- Sosimo B. Tabieros, et al. v. Clark Equipment Company, et
al., Civil No. 88-0-003025, First Circuit Court, Hawaii; First
trial 1990, followed by appeal to Hawaii Supreme Court appeal (1992)
*.
- Sosimo B. Tabieros, et al. v. Clark Equipment Company, et
al., Civil No. 88-0-003025, First Circuit Court, Hawaii; Second
trial 1993; followed by second Hawaii Supreme Court appeal (1997);
85 Hawai‘i 336, 944 P.2d 1279 (1997) *.
- Finley v. Home Insurance et al., 90 Haw. 25, 975 P.2d
1145 (Haw. 1998).
- Richard Goodell, et al. v. Nancy Smith, Civil No. ____,
Third Circuit Court, Hawaii (1998)*.
- Lisa N. DeMello v. Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., et al.,
Civil No. 97-2829-07, First Circuit Court, Hawaii (1999)*.
- Gonsalves v. Nissan, 100 Haw. 149, 58 P.3d 1196 (Haw.
2002)*.
- Morita v. County of Hawaii, 2002 Haw. LEXIS 142 (2000)*.
- In Re the Matter of The Marilyn Mueller Goss Family and Marital
Trusts, T. No. 03-1-0023, First Circuit Court, Hawai‘i;
- Jaz, Inc. v. Foley, 104 Haw. 148, 85 P.3d 1099 (Haw.
App. 2004)*.
- Sheryll Kaniho and Guy Kaniho v. Alistair Bairos, M.D., et
al., Civil No. 04-1-0139K, Third Circuit Court, Hawaii (2006)
*.
- Sue M. Meyers, individually and as Special Administrator
of the Estate of Austin Kainalu Meyers, et al. v. Department of
Education State of Hawaii, et al., Civil No. 04-1-0253, Third
Circuit Court, Hawaii (2006)*.
- Metzler Contracting Co. LLC and John Metzler v. Elle Stephens,
et al., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48760 (2007).
- Mr. and Mrs. Paul Stephens v. Metzler Contracting Co. LLC,
Case No. 74 110 Y 00339 06, American Arbitration Association
Construction Industry Tribunal (2010)**.
- KTS Properties, LLC v. Peter Skaaning, Civ. No. 09-00433,
United States District Court of Hawai‘i (2010);
- Lynch v. Choy et al, FINRA Arbitration No. 09-06111
(2011)**.
- AOAO of the Fairways at Mauna Lani v. Stanford Carr Development
et al, DPR No. 07-0347-A (2012) and AOAO of The Fairways at Mauna
Lani v. Metcalf Construction Company, Inc., et al.; S.P. No.
12-1-018K, Third Circuit Court, Hawai‘i (2012**.
- Metzler Contr. Co. LLC v. Stephens, No. 11-15749, No.
11-15833, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,
479 F. App. 783; 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 14924, Honolulu, Hawai‘i,
(2012).
Mr. Hiatt is rated "Av" in the Martindale–Hubbell Legal
Directory. He has been included in the publication, Best Lawyers
in America, each year from 1994 through the present. In the Best
Lawyers in America directory, he is currently listed in the following
eight separate categories: 1) Mediation; 2) Arbitration; 3) Bet-the-Company
Litigation; 4) Commercial Litigation; 5) Employment Law – Individuals;
6) Litigation – Labor and Employment; 7) Medical Malpractice Law –
Defendants; and 8) Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs.
Mr. Hiatt is also a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates
and the National Board of Legal Specialty Certification where he is
certified in both Civil Pre-trial Practice Advocacy and Civil Trial
Advocacy. Mr. Hiatt is on the mediation and arbitration panels for
Dispute Prevention & Resolution, Inc. ("DPR"), and the
American Arbitration Association ("AAA") and the mediation
panel for the National Association of Securities Dealers.
Mr. Hiatt has received extensive training in both mediation and arbitration,
including the following courses:
- Mediation: The Art of Facilitating Settlement offered through the
Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School
of Law;
- AAA Pro Se: Managing Cases Involving Self-Represented Parties
(ACE002);
- AAA Dealing with Delay Tactics in Arbitration (ACE004);
- AAA Chairing an Arbitration Panel: Managing Procedures, Process
& Dynamics (ACE005);
- AAA Arbitrator Ethics & Disclosure (ACE003);
- AAA Arbitration Awards: Safeguarding, Deciding & Writing Awards
(ACE001);
- Arbitrator II: Advanced Case Management Issues; and
-
Commercial Arbitrator Training.
Mr. Hiatt has been a speaker and or a panelist at multiple employment
law seminars and he served as an adjunct instructor in construction
law at the University of Hawaii for two years in their Architecture
Program. His publications include The Rejection of Cumis: Where
Do We Go From Here? HAWAII BAR JOURNAL 1999 and Nine Tips
For The Trial Lawyer, HAWAII BAR JOURNAL 1997.
Hiatt & Hiatt's current clients include, Hyatt Hotels, Hawaiian
Electric Company, the Waikoloa Land Company, Metzler Contracting Co.
LLC and the CKW Group. Clients for whom work has been concluded include
Hawaiian Dredging Company, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Four Seasons
Hualalai, the County of Hawai‘i, the State of Hawai‘i, the University
of Hawai‘i, Pomare, Ltd., the Queen’s Hospital, Kamehameha Schools,
Norman Fogelsong, the Managing Director and General Partner of Institutional
Venture Partners (IVP), Arthur Levinson, the Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of Genentech, Inc., Jack Gifford, former President of Maxim
Integrated Products, Continental Pacific, LLC, Peter Skaaning and
the Kohala Ranch Community Association.
Mahilani
E.K. Hiatt is a partner in the firm. She concentrates her
practice on civil and commercial litigation, with a focus on labor
and employment law. She has extensive experience in discovery, arbitrations
and trial preparation. Ms. Hiatt graduated from the Kamehameha Schools,
Kapalama campus, in 1980. She attended Colorado College in Colorado
Springs and received her B.A. in History in 1984. Ms. Hiatt received
her J.D. from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University
of Hawai‘i at Manoa in 1993. During law school, Ms. Hiatt served as
the Student Body Association President, and as a member and Executive
Managing Editor of the Law Review. She was a co-author, along with
David L. Callies and Donna H. Kalama, of The Lum Court, Land Use,
and the Environment: A Survey of Hawai‘i Case Law 1983 to 1991. Ms.
Hiatt received numerous awards while attending law school including
the Michael P. Porter Dean’s Scholastic Award, two American Jurisprudence
Awards for Civil Procedure and Commercial Transactions, the Law Alumni/Friends
Golf Tournament Award and the National Association of Women Lawyers
Outstanding Law Student Award. She was chosen as one of Hawaii's Best
Lawyers for 2016 for Litigation - Labor and Employment. She is active
in the community and has served on the Law School Alumni Association,
both as a member and as President, the Hawai‘i State Bar Association
Committee on Civility and Professional Conduct, Hawai‘i Special Olympics,
the American Youth Soccer Association, and Planned Parenthood of Hawai‘i.
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