Dicks v. Nago ( 2022 )

Electronically Filed
Supreme Court
SCEC-XX-XXXXXXX
15-DEC-2022
01:27 PM
Dkt. 14 ORD
SCEC-XX-XXXXXXX
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAIʻI
________________________________________________________________
KARL ORLANDO DICKS, Plaintiff,
vs.
SCOTT T. NAGO, in his official capacity as
Chief Elections Officer for the Office of Elections,
State of Hawaiʻi, REESE R. NAKAMURA in his capacity as Deputy
Attorney General, State of Hawaiʻi, and PATRICIA T. OHARA,
in her capacity as Deputy Attorney General, State of Hawaiʻi,
Defendants.
________________________________________________________________
ORIGINAL PROCEEDING
ORDER DISMISSING ELECTION COMPLAINT
(By: Recktenwald, C.J., Nakayama, McKenna, Wilson, and Eddins, JJ.)
Upon consideration of the election complaint filed on
November 28, 2022, the motion to dismiss or for summary judgment
filed on December 2, 2022, and the record, this court’s original
jurisdiction to hear election contests is derived from Hawaiʻi
Revised Statutes (HRS) § 11-172 (Supp. 2021), which requires an
election complaint to “set forth any causes or causes . . . that
could cause a difference in the election results.”
Plaintiff’s complaint states it seeks only a
“[d]eclaratory [j]udgment of [f]acts, Rule 57 HRCP without
[r]elief.” The complaint does not “set forth any cause or
causes . . . that could cause a difference in the election
results.” See HRS § 11-172. We thus decline to address the
merits of the complaint because none of them amount to errors
that could change the outcome of an election. See Lewis v.
Cayetano, 72 Haw. 499, 503, 823 P.2d 738, 741 (1992) (declining
to address the merits of an issue because, even if the
contention were accepted, the election results would not have
changed and the plaintiffs would not be entitled to relief).
It is ordered that the complaint is dismissed.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawaii, December 15, 2022.
/s/ Mark E. Recktenwald
/s/ Paula A. Nakayama
/s/ Sabrina S. McKenna
/s/ Michael D. Wilson
/s/ Todd W. Eddins
2