HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Architect Laurel Mau will get another chance to try and prove she was a victim of a conspiracy between the engineering and architectural firm that fired her and the city prosecutor.
A federal judge ruled Wednesday, refusing to dismiss the civil case against five defendants: Mitsunaga and Associates Inc., firm founder Dennis Mitsunaga, and the firm’s attorney Sheri Tanaka.
Both donated to the campaigns of former city prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro, who is also a named defendant.
The four were acquitted in the criminal conspiracy trial last year, but Mau’s attorney said there are different procedures in a civil case.
“The federal prosecutors had to prove their case, each element of their case, beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Carl Osaki, Mau’s attorney. “In the civil context, that’s not the standard of proof. The standard of proof is more likely than not.”
A civil jury can be made up of just six people with a majority needed for a verdict, unlike a criminal jury verdict.
There is an additional defendant in the lawsuit, the City and County of Honolulu, which was not part of last year’s criminal trial. Mau said in court documents the city is liable because Kaneshiro was a city official who used city resources to punish her.
Mau claims the group conspired to have her wrongfully prosecuted for theft in retaliation for her filing a civil discrimination lawsuit after she was fired from Mitsunaga and Associates in 2011. That happened hours after she asked for her first raise in 10 years.
The allegations in her new civil lawsuit include bombshell statements that were made in the criminal conspiracy trial, including the admission by a witness, a former HPD officer, that he was coached to lie and discredit Mau in her first civil case.
“If we had what the federal prosecutors had, I think the civil trial would have been a lot different,” Osaki said. “It revealed a lot of facts that were previously unknown.”
No trial date has been set for the new civil case. The judge’s recent ruling means an amended complaint will have to be filed.
HNN Investigates reached out to the attorneys for the defendants. All declined to comment except the city. A spokesperson thanked the court for dropping one of the accusations of malicious prosecution. The judge, however, ruled civil rights violations claim can continue.
The city spokesperson said they will fight the case and they intend to file additional motions to defeat Mau’s lawsuit altogether.
No details on what Mau is asking for in the civil lawsuit.
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