Schubert v. Saluni

The principal question on appeal is whether, in a summary possession action, where the district court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case on jurisdictional grounds, the defendants were “successful parties” entitled to an award of attorney’s fees under Hawai‘i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 607-17 (1985). A subordinate question is whether such defendants were entitled to an allowance of costs. We conclude that such defendants were not entitled to an award of attorney’s fees, but were entitled to an allowance of costs in the discretion of the district court.

I

On April 16,1990, plaintiff…