UH Regents Reach Settlement With Dobelle

Keoki Kerr, KITV 4 News Reporter

POSTED: 1:09 pm HST July 29, 2004

HONOLULU -- Fired University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle and the UH Board of Regents have reached a settlement that is expected to be announced late Thursday afternoon, sources said.

The university will pay Dobelle "significantly less" than the $2.2 million severance payment called for in his contract, according to two people familiar with the deal. Both sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because both sides have agreed not to comment until the mediation is completed and its results announced.

Dobelle has already signed the settlement agreement, according to one source. The regents were expected to approve the deal after meeting in a closed session Thursday afternoon, both sources said.

Two written settlement agreements were expected to be released after the board approves the deal. The first settlement ends Dobelle's presidency, and the other settles the question of whether Dobelle will have a tenured faculty position at UH. Further details of those agreements were not immediately available.

The regents fired Dobelle "for cause" on June 15, but have not publicly explained the reasons for his firing. His $442,000-a-year contract called for a $2.2 million severance package unless he was fired "for cause."

Sources said the regents fired Dobelle because he used tens of thousands of dollars of UH Foundation "protocol fund" money for personal expenses. Sources said regents were also upset to learn he had a secret "side agreement" to his contract allowing him a fully paid sabbatical in the sixth year of his seven-year contract.

Dobelle has denied any wrongdoing and blamed financial oversights on "sloppy" bookkeeping. Dobelle points out he paid back thousands of dollars in expenses, and says he routinely personally fronted thousands of dollars in official expenses, only to be reimbursed weeks or months later.

In mediation, Dobelle's lawyers claimed he was owed at least $3 million, and they threatened to sue the UH for breach of contract and defamation. Both sides entered mediation on July 1, with former Attorney General Warren Price serving as mediator.

Dobelle hired Honolulu plaintiff's attorney Richard Fried on a "contingency fee." Fried has said he generally gets paid about one-third of the money he collects for a client. Fried assembled a legal team that included other prominent attorneys, including: Mark Davis, John Edmunds, Jeffrey Portnoy and David Simons. Fried said he'd pay any of their legal fees out of his pay.

UH hired three law firms to help in the mediation and to prepare for the possibility of taking the case to court.

The university retained litigation attorney Bill McCorriston, as well as his partner, Darolyn Lendio, the former city corporation counsel. McCorriston's firm is being paid between $130 and $400 an hour for its services in the Dobelle case, a UH spokeswoman said.

The UH's co-counsel in the case is Barry Marr, a lawyer who's an employment law specialist. UH is paying Marr's firm between $100 and $295 an hour.

UH has also hired Big Island attorney Jerry Hiatt, an employment litigation specialist. UH is paying Hiatt's firm between $200 and $300 an hour for his services, UH said.

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