Austin v. Chang ( 2019 )

Electronically Filed
Supreme Court
SCPW-XX-XXXXXXX
06-MAR-2019
09:57 AM
SCPW-XX-XXXXXXX
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I
DAVID ERIC AUSTIN and JENNIFER ANN LOH, Petitioners,
vs.
THE HONORABLE GARY W. B. CHANG, Judge of the Circuit Court of the
First Circuit, State of Hawai#i, Respondent Judge,
and
DAVID KNOX, Respondent.
ORIGINAL PROCEEDING
(CIV. NO. 18-1-0555-04)
ORDER DENYING APPLICATION FOR WRIT OF PROHIBITION
(By: Recktenwald, C.J., Nakayama, McKenna, Pollack, and Wilson, JJ.)
Upon consideration of petitioners David Eric Austin and
Jennifer Ann Loh’s application for writ of prohibition, filed on
January 25, 2019, the documents attached thereto and submitted in
support thereof, and the record, it appears that, at this
juncture, the record presented to this court does not warrant the
requested extraordinary writ. See Honolulu Advertiser, Inc. v.
Takao, 59 Haw. 237, 241, 580 P.2d 58, 62 (1978) (a writ of
prohibition “is an extraordinary remedy . . . to restrain a judge
of an inferior court from acting beyond or in excess of his
jurisdiction”); Gannett Pac. Corp. v. Richardson, 59 Haw. 224,
226, 580 P.2d 49, 53 (1978) (a writ of prohibition is not meant
to serve as a legal remedy in lieu of normal appellate
procedures; rather, it is available in “rare and exigent
circumstances” where “allow[ing] the matter to wend its way
through the appellate process would not be in the public interest
and would work upon the public irreparable harm”). Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the application for writ of
prohibition is denied.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawai#i, March 6, 2019.
/s/ Mark E. Recktenwald
/s/ Paula A. Nakayama
/s/ Sabrina S. McKenna
/s/ Richard W. Pollack
/s/ Michael D. Wilson
2