Diocese Will not Sue Former Bishop over Failed Retirement Home
Episcopal News Service. July 25, 1996 [96-1532T]
(ENS) The Diocese of Hawaii will not be suing its former bishop who resigned over a failed retirement home project that left the diocese burdened with a $4 million loan. Bishop Donald P. Hart, bishop of Hawaii from 1986 to 1994, expressed relief that the legal threat had been dropped, and said that he hoped the move would help further reconciliation. As bishop, Hart was chair of Episcopal Homes of Hawaii, (EHH), a non-profit organization established in 1989 to develop a $150 million "lifetime care" retirement complex in Waialae-Kahala, a section of Honolulu. When EHH was unable to repay a $4 million loan guaranteed by the diocese, the diocese severed ties with the project and considered filing a civil suit against Hart and two other diocesan officers involved with the project in order to collect on liability insurance covering the diocese's "officers and directors." The diocesan council announced recently, however, that it had decided against suing Hart and his former executive officer, the Rev. Peter Van Home, maintaining that a suit would be too emotionally costly for the diocese and its members. The diocese has left open the possibility of suing former diocesan legal officer Michael Porter and his former law firm. Hart has said that he would like an apology for the accusations made against him during the financial fiasco. According to a diocesan spokesperson, the decision on the lawsuit does not mean that "the church does not hold Bishop Hart partially responsible for our huge debt."