Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has filed a series of lawsuits against Hawaiian families aimed at forcing them to sell their lands so the world’s sixth richest person and his family can have more privacy in their estate.
According to The Honululu Star Advertiser, a dozen small parcels within Zuckerberg’s Kauai estate are owned by kamaaina families, native families born on the island.
The newspaper reported that Zuckerberg has filed several lawsuits through several companies against a few hundred people — many living and some dead — who inherited the ‘kuleana’ lands where ownership is often largely undocumented.
Earlier, Mark Zuckerberg has paid around $100 million for 700 acres of rural beachfront land on Kauai to create a secluded family sanctuary.
Kuleana lands refer to the real estate acquired by Hawaii citizens through the Kuleana Act of 1850.
Three Zuckerberg companies — Pilaa International LLC, Northshore Kalo LLC and High Flyer LLC — filed eight quiet title lawsuits Dec. 30 in state Circuit Court on Kauai.
The newspaper reported that the lawsuits filed by Zuckerberg are complex. One suit involved a woman, named Oma, who has no surname and once owned a parcel within Zuckerberg’s property.
Some cases filed by Zuckerberg involve properties believed to have no living owners.
Defendants have 20 days to respond to the lawsuit and they don’t respond they get no say in the legal proceeding.
