Morris v. Cole

NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

Electronically Filed
Intermediate Court of Appeals
CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX
21-OCT-2025
08:24 AM
Dkt. 27 OGMD
NO. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX

IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS

OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I

MARK MORRIS, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
JIM COLE, Defendant-Appellant.

APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE SECOND CIRCUIT
WAILUKU DIVISION
(CASE NO. 2DRC-XX-XXXXXXX)

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS APPEAL
(By: Wadsworth, Presiding Judge, McCullen and Guidry, JJ.)

Upon consideration of Plaintiff-Appellee Mark Morris's
October 9, 2025 Motion to Dismiss Appeal, the papers in support
and in opposition, and the record, it appears as follows.
Morris seeks dismissal of the appeal for lack of
jurisdiction because Defendant-Appellant Jim Cole's August 14,
2025 Notice of Appeal was not timely-filed within thirty days of
the District Court of the Second Circuit's June 4, 2024 Judgment
for Possession, as required under Rule 4(a), Hawai#i Rules of
Appellate Procedure. Cole counters that the appeal is timely
because the time to appeal ran from entry of the District Court's
July 15, 2025 Order Granting Plaintiff's Motion for Summary
Judgment.

Pursuant to [Hawai#i Revised Statutes (HRS)] § 641-
1(a) (1993), appeals are allowed in civil matters from
all final judgments, orders, or decrees of circuit and
district courts. In district court cases, a judgment
includes any order from which an appeal lies. A final
order means an order ending the proceeding, leaving
nothing further to be accomplished. When a written
judgment, order, or decree ends the litigation by
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

fully deciding all rights and liabilities of all
parties, leaving nothing further to be adjudicated,
the judgment, order, or decree is final and
appealable.

Casumpang v. ILWU, Local 142, 91 Hawai#i 425, 426, 984 P.2d 1251,
1252 (1999) (cleaned up; emphasis added). The underlying
complaint in this case raised a single claim for summary
possession, which was fully adjudicated upon entry of the
Judgment for Possession. Accordingly, the Judgment for
Possession is the operative appealable judgment under HRS § 641-
1(a) (2016). The record does not indicate that Cole received an
extension of time to appeal, or that the deadline was otherwise
tolled or extended. Compliance with the requirement of timely
filing a notice of appeal is jurisdictional. Grattafiori v.
State, 79 Hawai#i 10, 13, 897 P.2d 937, 940 (1995).
Therefore, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the motion is
granted and the appeal is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

DATED: Honolulu, Hawai#i, October 21, 2025.

/s/ Clyde J. Wadsworth
Presiding Judge

/s/ Sonja M.P. McCullen
Associate Judge

/s/ Kimberly T. Guidry
Associate Judge

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