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Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

Business & Tourism

A Maui landowner being sued for exacerbating drought conditions has fired back, countersuing the plaintiffs for violating water use restrictions.

Several organizations — including TY Management Corp., which owns and operates the Kapalua Golf Courses; Hua Momona Farms LLC; Plantation Estates Lot Owners’ Association; Association of Apartment Owners of the Coconut Grove on Kapalua; and the Association of Apartment Owners of the Ridge at Kapalua — sued MLP in 

, claiming that MLP had failed to sufficiently maintain its irrigation system, leaving those organizations without adequate water.

 earlier this month when the PGA Tour announced that its annual Sentry Tournament, which had been held at the Kapalua Plantation Golf Course every year since 1999, would not return in January 2026 because the lack of water had degraded the course below tournament standards.

At the time, Kapalua Golf general manager Alex Nakajima laid the blame for the situation on poor water management.

 Tuesday, suing TY Management for breach of contract, defamation, negligence, unjust enrichment, and violation of the State Water Code. The countersuit accuses TY of failing to responsibly reduce its water use during drought conditions.

“Ignoring the priorities set by Hawai‘i law, TY and the Associations took water prioritization into their own hands,” the counterclaim reads. “When asked to conserve, they put their irrigation needs first, knowingly using millions of gallons of water meant for fire protection for the entire Kapalua community.”

The counterclaim goes on to allege that TY only began following irrigation restrictions after months of flouting them, and then “took pictures of browning grass, curated a narrative for a defamatory publicity campaign and filed a lawsuit made more of media soundbites than legal substance.”

The countersuit includes a description of MLP’s own water supply infrastructure and the agreements it shares with TY for its access to that infrastructure.

In a contract signed in 2010, TY agreed that, in the event of a drought, MLP’s priorities will be first to satisfy users’ need for potable water before non-potable water needs such as the golf courses and agricultural tenants. Similarly, if there is insufficient water to satisfy all non-potable water needs, TY agreed that MLP has the right to reduce water delivered to the golf courses.

Throughout the spring and summer of this year, statewide water management company Hawaiʻi Water Services placed TY and other water users were placed under “Tier 4” water conservation restrictions, requiring a 100% reduction of the use of non-potable water save for fire protection, according to the countersuit.

When those restrictions were scaled back in August to “Tier 2” — requiring a 40% reduction in use — Hawaii Water Services soon warned MLP that some customers were flouting those restrictions and using more water than permitted. By the end of August, despite warnings to MLP’s customers, including TY, HWS placed users back under Tier 4, citing repeated non-compliance with conservation rules.

“The water [TY] used to irrigate golf courses and landscaping was water that was reserved for critical fire protection for the entire Kapalua community,” the countersuit read. “[Their] decisions to prioritize golf courses and landscaping jeopardized the safety of the Kapalua community.”

MLP claimed the golf courses used more than 11.4 million gallons of water for irrigation in June, while MLP’s other agricultural tenants used zero gallons. And, between Aug. 27 and Aug. 29, while under Tier 2 restrictions, MLP claimed TY used over 1 million gallons each day for irrigation.

The countersuit also accuses TY of knowingly making and promulgating false statements about its water agreements with MLP, such as claims that MLP is “pocketing” revenues that should be used for infrastructure maintenance.

The countersuit concludes with a request for damages to be proven at trial.

“Securing Maui’s water future will take all of us doing our part. We need water solutions that benefit the broader community, not just a few wealthy individuals," MLP CEO Race Randle said in a statement. "The golf courses had a chance to secure their own irrigation water after they were granted an easement by MLP to do so over 15 years ago. Now, they try to deflect blame for their years of inaction and overconsumption during a historic drought.”

TY Management made a holding statement to Aloha State Daily Tuesday, stating that the company will review MLP’s claims, but challenged “MLP’s demonstrably false statement … that ‘MLP has appropriately maintained the [ditch] system.’

“Everyone knows that isn’t true, as our complaint demonstrated in picture after picture and paragraph after paragraph,” the statement read. “MLP’s decision to sue TY and other West Maui water users just because they dared to hold MLP accountable is another attempt by MLP to distract the courts and the public from its many failings.”

[{"type":"text","text":"ASD reached out to MLP for comment."}]

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Maui

<title>🚧 Maui landowner countersues in water battle</title>

Maui Land & Pineapple hits back against golf courses and other water users, accusing them of ignoring water restrictions.

Maui landowner countersues in water battle

A legal debate over a Kaua‘i lawyer’s 2018 “sleazy” remarks finally ended at the state Supreme Court Monday.

Seven years ago, Mark Zenger, an attorney since 1983, was representing a husband in a Kaua‘i divorce case that had turned acrimonious, particularly regarding the future of the former couple’s home.

Amid a legal back-and-forth between Zenger and his opposite number, attorney Stacey Joroff, Zenger filed a heated memorandum, describing the wife’s legal tactics as “sneaky, sleazy things [done] as part and parcel of an evil and intentional plan,” and a “hissy fit.” In a subsequent hearing, Zenger also called Joroff’s and her client’s actions “slimy” and used profanities such as “horseshit” and “bullshit.”

These remarks became the basis of a disciplinary investigation that lasted for years. After Joroff filed a complaint with the state Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the matter would go to multiple disciplinary hearings — one of which lasted six days — in 2020 and 2021, both of which found no fault in Zenger’s conduct.

Despite this, in 2023, the ODC board rejected the findings of the hearings, leading Zenger to appeal the matter to the Supreme Court.

“It’s fairly rare for these things to go to the Supreme Court,” Roy Kong, chief disciplinary counsel at ODC, told Aloha State Daily. “It’s also rare for them to come before the ODC board at all.”

Kong said public disciplinary hearings are held when an ODC investigation has determined that an attorney’s conduct warrants some sort of public penalty, which he said could range from a public admonition to suspension to disbarment. He estimated that less than 20% of all disciplinary cases go to public hearings, while even fewer go to multiple hearings and still fewer go to the Supreme Court.

In Zenger’s case, the ODC had requested he be publicly reprimanded for his conduct, which Kong said entails a public notice that an attorney has been found to violate a specific provision of the Hawai‘i Rules of Professional Conduct (HRPC).

At question was whether Zenger’s word choices — “sleazy,” “sneaky,” “evil”, “hissy fit” — violated HRPC civility rules, which Zenger denied. During the hearings, Zenger said he had “at worst, engaged in rhetorical hyperbole, which is … fully protected by the First Amendment.”

Ultimately, on Monday, the Supreme Court found Zenger had violated no rules, putting an end to the matter after seven years.

 in the opinion of the court that, under the circumstances of the divorce case, Zenger’s language was understandable: the wife had made false statements to the court about the husband’s intentions, and served Zenger by mail for a hearing scheduled a week later, giving him little time to respond.

As such, Eddins wrote that Zenger’s word choice, “though ill-mannered, … expressed Zenger’s reasonable complaints.”

Other complaints by Joroff that Zenger had “loomed over her” during a court hearing were determined to have not happened.

“Because we do not believe this court should reprimand attorneys for not meeting aspirational goals … we do not address whether seven dirty words — ‘sneaky,’ ‘slimy,’ ‘sleazy,’ ‘evil,’ ‘hissy fit,’ ‘horseshit,’ and ‘bullshit’ — violate [the HRPC],” Eddins wrote.

[{"type":"text","text":"ASD reached out to Zenger for comment."}]

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<title>🚧 Hawai‘i Supreme Court rules on 7 years of "BS"</title>

Heated language during a 2018 divorce case led to a seven-year disciplinary debate.

Hawai‘i Supreme Court rules on 7 years of "BS"

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Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Screenwriter Chris Kekaeniokalani Bright’s first experience with “Lilo & Stitch” was when he was nine years old. His mother, Lynell Bright, led the Kamehameha Schools Children’s Chorus in singing 

“I was too young to be in the choir, which I was really bummed about,” Bright told Aloha State Daily. “But I did get to go watch them do the recording, which was amazing because I was sitting in the recording studio watching through the glass. And then cut to 23 years later, and I was doing the same thing, watching my mom with the choir now — from a different role.”

Bright was one of the screenwriters for Disney’s live action version of “Lilo & Stitch,” which premieres May 23. He is also a graduate of Kamehameha Schools.

“It just feels like it's Christmas morning, and you've wrapped the present, and you know it's going to be really good, and you can't wait for everybody to see it,” Bright told Aloha State Daily. “I feel like we made something special, and I can’t wait for the world to see it.”

Compared to the original animated movie, the story is “similar in the sense that the heart of it, we've kept the same,” Bright said.

The live action story explores more of the relationship between Nani, who is 18 years old, and Lilo, her little sister, who falls under her care after their parents unexpectedly die in an accident. There are some new characters and different relationships, he added.

“We really had to dissect the original movie to figure out what is at the heart of this, what makes it work so well? Why is it so emotional?” he said. “And of course, it's about ‘ohana, and it's also about being broken but still good. There's so many wonderful themes in there.”

 previously wrote “Conviction,” which made the 2018 Black List, an annual survey of Hollywoodʻs top unproduced screenplays. It was sold to Warner Brothers. Although he now has multiple screenplays to his name, he never intended to be a writer. 

He wanted to be a drummer for Broadway musicals. He planned to major in music at Chapman University until a serious hand injury derailed his plans. Bright took six months off and when he returned to classes, he “just couldn’t play in the same way,” he said.

“I just so happened that semester to be taking a screenwriting class — screenwriting 101 — and I loved it,” he said. “The teacher knew of my situation, and she was really sweet, and she was like: Have you ever thought about making this a career?”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He switched his major to film studies."}]

“It was a blessing in disguise — one of the hardest things I went through in my life, but ultimately ended up getting me where I am now,” Bright said. “But it was never the plan.”

Currently, he is working on a television show. He also wrote a script centered around family which takes place in Hawaiʻi. He will be directing that next year.

Being able to work on the live action “Lilo & Stitch” at the same time as his mother was “pretty cool and pretty full circle,” Bright said.

What was the hardest part of writing this screenplay?

“Knowing that so many people love this — including myself — feeling the pressure of that and wanting to just do it right, was the biggest challenge,” he said. “It was really wanting to honor the movie before it, honor the heart of it, honor how much it means to so many people all around the world, especially people from Hawaiʻi.”

Chris Kekaniokalani Bright

<title>🚧 “Lilo & Stitch” is a family affair for screenwriter Chris Kekaniokalani Bright</title>

For this writer, the reveal of Disney’s live action version of “Lilo & Stitch” on Friday, May 23, feels a bit like handing off a present on Christmas morning where “you can’t wait for everybody to see it, and you’re just waiting for them to open it.”

“Lilo & Stitch” is a family affair for screenwriter Chris Kekaniokalani Bright

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ASD Staff

Broccoli Cheddar

Adopt-a-Pet Maui: Curious cat named 'Broccoli Cheddar' needs a safe home

Three-year-old terrier mix Bingo, formerly known as Kinako, was adopted on Aug. 8 by Matt Yoshika and Chiako Fukushima. Aloha State Daily featured this 29-pound pooch on April 4.

09 10 2025 Bingo fka Kinako

Adopt-a-Pet Sept. 11, 2025: Kinako, renamed Bingo, has found a furever family

According to the Hawaiian Humane Society, "Booboo would thrive in a calm, compassionate home where she can adjust at her own pace and build a bond that will last for years."

08 27 2025 Booboo

Adopt-a-Pet Aug. 28, 2025: Build a lasting bond with Booboo

This 3-year-old pup from the Maui Humane Society is on the search for his furever home. Could that be you?

Loki

Adopt-a-Pet Aug. 28, 2025: Loki is looking for his future bestie

Bee-Boop reporting for duty: professional toy chaser, friend maker, and all-around handsome pup!

Bee boop

Adopt a Pet Aug. 20, 2025: Here's the scoop on Bee-Boop

This 3-year-old dog "loves to show off his skills like sitting, catching treats and bopping tennis balls with his snout," says the Hawaiian Humane Society.

08 13 2025 Eddie

Adopt-a-Pet Aug. 14, 2025: Eddie 'eagerly explores all the world has to offer'

<title>🚧 Adopt a Pet</title>

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Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

Cassondra “Cassie” Christman, a volunteer at Maui Humane Society who wears many hats, loves working with animals — dogs in particular. Christman has used her own social media platform to advocate for adopting and fostering furry friends, in addition to sharing the organization’s needs from wishlists for specific pets to relocating dogs from Molokai and Lānaʻi.