Hawaii’s Supreme Court heard arguments last week on matters of surely linking a possible $ 4 billion agreement on the catastrophic Forest Fire 2023 of Maui, the most deadly in the United States in more than a century.

The massive hell decimated the historic city of Lahaina, killing more than 100 people, destroying thousands of properties and causing estimated damage of $ 5.5 billion. Shortly after, lawyers began to file hundreds of demands.

An agreement was announced last summer, but insurance companies were maintained, insisting that they should have the right to chase the defendants separately to recover the money paid to the insured.

The judges said they would take the matter under advice and issue a decision as soon as possible, but did not specify.

Here are things to know about the agreement and the problems that could frustrate the agreement:

The agreement will not be enough

A few days before the first anniversary of the fire on August 8, 2023, Governor Josh Green announced that seven defendants accused of causing the tragedy had agreed to pay $ 4 billion to resolve the claims of thousands of people.

The lawyers who represent the individual plaintiffs agreed in the midst of fears that the main defendant Hawaiian Electric, the energy company blamed for generating the fire, could be on the verge of bankruptcy. Other defendants include the State, Maui County and the Kamehameha schools, Hawaii’s largest private landowner.

The victims’ lawyers recognized that $ 4 billion were not enough to compensate for what was lost, but they said it was worth accepting the agreement, given the limited assets of Hawaiian Electric.

“They need each penny to restructure the fabric to re -unite the community,” said lawyer Jesse believes the judges on Thursday.

Creed said that the victims face because their own home, the playgrounds and the place of worship were burned in the fire of Palisades, one of the forest fires that brought a generalized destruction around Los Angeles last month .

The legal dispute threatens the treatment

The victims’ lawyers asked Judge Peter Cahill to prevent insurance companies from pursuing the defendants separately to recover the money, a requirement that was key to the agreement. Cahill agreed, saying that insurers could seek reimbursement only from the $ 4 billion group that the defendants have already agreed to pay.

That did not sit well with a group of approximately 200 property insurance and victims who remain in the agreement. So far they have paid more than $ 2.3 billion to people and companies and hope to pay $ 1 billion more. They want to be able to pursue their own claims against the defendants.

Cahill has asked the State Superior Court about subrogation, or how insurance companies can recover money.

Among the questions before the Court is if the state laws that control the reimbursement of medical care insurance also apply to accidents of accidents and properties to limit the capacity of companies to follow independent legal actions against those responsible.

A last minute agreement between the victims’ lawyers last week avoided a separate trial on how to divide the $ 4 billion among individual plaintiffs and others covered by collective claim. Some victims had been ready to take the witness position, while others presented a pre -recorded testimony that describes the pain even cooler due to the recent destruction in Los Angeles.

What is subrogation?

Common in the insurance industry, subrogation is a legal process that allows an insurance company to follow a part that caused a covered loss. It is a way in which companies recover the amount of claims paid to the insured.

Insurance companies say that subrogation is a way to compensate for the costs associated with a catastrophic event, so premiums will not have to rise. The process is not for natural disasters such as hurricanes, but for when there is someone guilty.

The governor of Hawaii has previously denounced the subrogation.

When insurance companies raise huge profits and no disasters occur, they do not send reimbursements to the insured, Green said in the comments cited in judicial presentations. But when a tragedy occurs, they seek to recover their payments to the victims.

“It is fundamentally unfair, and they call it subrogation,” he said.

Insurance companies say they have been unfairly villains

The insurance industry has been unfairly villain as strangers who take resources from the community, while those responsible for fires will not be responsible, said Vincent Raboteau, a lawyer who represents insurers, Cahill during an audience last year.

Insurance lawyers have said they want to hold the defendants responsible and that they are not trying to get in the way that fire victims obtain liquidation money.

The investigations of origin and cause are “time intensive and expensive,” said lawyers in a judicial summary of insurers that “assume the burden of these investigations” and assume the risk of those costs.

The insurers quickly paid claims, which are helping the victims to rebuild, the brief said: “For many victims of forest fires, the payment of claims by their insurer provided rapid access to necessary funds desperately.”

When will the victims be paid?

Not for a while.

If the Supreme Court of the State agrees that an insurance company can demand directly to the defendants, “that would probably destroy the global conciliation agreement,” said Jacob Lowenthal, a lawyer who represents individual plaintiffs. The plaintiffs would return to the Cahill Court Chamber to find dates of judgment for their demands.

If the judges govern the other way, the agreement could be directed towards the end, starting an administrative process to distribute money.

It is possible that any side that loses the side looks for a review in the Supreme Court of the United States.

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Topics Catastrophe natural disasters Forest Fire Hawaii