Wong v. City and County of Honolulu (D. Haw. 2004)
Decided: 2004-08-26. Opinion
Source note (2026-10-18):
- Links on this page to
https://static.case.law/f-supp-2d/333/cases/0942-01.json,https://static.case.law/haw/91/cases/0001-01.jsonare an (unofficial Caselaw Access Project copy, retrieved before 2026-10-18; host disallows automated access); no official or otherwise permitted full-text copy was located on 2026-10-18.
Facts
The owner challenged Honolulu’s removal/disposition of a vehicle and sought constitutional and state-law relief against the city and an individual officer. Opinion
Holding and disposition
This is a partial-summary-judgment order, not a final damages verdict. The former ten-model-year vehicle condition failed constitutional review; other challenged statutory conditions survived the facial attack. Federal municipal claims were dismissed: enforcing state law alone did not establish the required city policy liability. The officer’s federal Fourth/Fifth/Fourteenth Amendment claims survived factual disputes, while official-capacity claims were duplicative. Contract claims were dismissed against both defendants. State tort claims against the officer were barred by qualified privilege on the conceded absence of malice; city state-law tort claims remained. No universal finding of liability or total constitutional approval of every abandoned-vehicle disposal follows. Opinion
Reasoning and practical scope
Full order verified including separate city/officer and federal/state branches. It discusses Brown. Current 290-8 no longer has the invalidated ten-model-year condition; current seizure/title rules must be read separately. Targeted later-treatment searches are not an exhaustive docket or appellate-history certification. Opinion; Opinion; HRS 0290–0008; HRS 0290–0009
Verification and treatment
The full opinion body was checked. The source is a full reported-opinion reproduction in the Harvard Caselaw Access Project, not a headnote or official court-hosted original. Targeted primary treatment/current-statute checks are described, without representing an exhaustive later-history or still-good-law certification. Original body and SHA-256 are retained in the Hawaii evidence register.
Applies in
hawaii · personal-property-execution-sales-by-state
Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-10-18. Consult qualified local counsel about an actual dispute.