The Advertiser accepted UH's apology and dropped their lawsuit

HA Note: "The University of Hawai'i has issued an apology, promised improved openness, and will pay The Honolulu Advertiser's attorney fees in return for the newspaper dropping its six-week-old lawsuit, it was announced yesterday. The Advertiser filed suit May 23 in circuit court in an effort to get the university to disclose a complete list of the people who traveled to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans in conjunction with UH and the expenses for the trip. Under the terms of the settlement, UH will pay $6,000 in attorney's fees. The suit was dropped yesterday, according to The Advertiser's attorney, Jeff Portnoy."

Apologizing to the Advertiser, JD said:
"We apologize to The Honolulu Advertiser and the public that they represent that it took so long to provide the information. The information has been provided to The Advertiser and we have made a commitment to work closely with The Advertiser and their reporters to get information out in a more timely manner." (HA)

HA Note: "Donovan, who replaced Herman Frazier in March, was not at UH when the travel policy was drawn up or the information request was initiated. Frazier, in consultation with the Manoa Chancellor's Office and the school's counsel, set the travel policy, according to UH officials."

Happy about the outcome of their lawsuit, Advertiser Editor Mark Platte said:
"We are pleased to have prevailed in this lawsuit and are satisfied with the assurances the University of Hawai'i and athletic director Jim Donovan have given us that they will comply with public records requests in a timely manner as required by law,." (HA)

About the lawsuit, Portnoy said:
"This lawsuit should never have been necessary as these records were clearly public, and hopefully, the university will be more attentive to the necessity to comply with state open records laws going forward." (HA)