Hawaiian Electric (NYSE:HE) slumped 14% after parties on Friday failed to reach an agreement on a settlement to resolve hundreds of lawsuits over last year’s Maui wildfires. The parties had a deadline of Friday to come to an agreement in principle, though the deadline has now been extended until Wednesday, according to a report from Honolulu Civil Beat on Friday.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green is also unhappy with the proposed settlement, according to a Courthouse News Service report on Friday. “There are some parties on the mainland that are simply asking for too much of the settlement, resources that I insist must go to families who were devastated by the fire,” Green said in a written statement. “I will personally call them out by name next week if they hurt Hawaii’s people or further delay this agreement.”
The slump in Hawaiian Electric (NYSE:HE) shares comes after the stock surged 37% on Friday following a Bloomberg report that the parties had tentatively agreed to pay more than $4 billion to resolve hundreds of lawsuits over last year’s Maui wildfires. The total $4B amount would come in below the ~$5.5B estimated capital cost caused by the fires in a damage assessment released last year.
Hawaiian Electric (NYSE:HE) is said to be on the hook for ~$1.5B of the settlement, but other companies’ shares are still being finalized; the proposed settlement likely would be paid out over four years, according to the report on Thursday.
Footnotes:
- https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/07/maui-fire-victims-sue-insurers-to-make-sure-they-get-fully-paid-in-any-settlement/
- https://www.courthousenews.com/proposed-4-billion-maui-wildfire-settlement-hits-mainland-snag
- https://seekingalpha.com/news/4125717-hawaiian-electric-surges-as-bloomberg-says-among-firms-in-4b-fire-settlement
