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Feb. 27, 2026 Get Citation Alerts Download PDF Add Note

Narvaez v. Rojas

Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals

• Citations: None known

• Docket Number: CAAP-23-0000685

• Opinion

• Authorities (7)

• Cited By (0)

• Summaries (0)

• Similar Cases (4.6K)

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Combined Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAII REPORTS OR THE PACIFIC REPORTER

Electronically Filed
Intermediate Court of Appeals
CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX
27-FEB-2026
07:52 AM
Dkt. 57 SO

NO. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX

IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS

OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I

THOMAS PEREZ NARVAEZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v.
SIMON B. ROJAS AND KATHY ROJAS, Defendants-Appellees.

APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT
KO#OLAU POKO DIVISION
(CASE NO. 1DRC-XX-XXXXXXX)

SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER
(By: Hiraoka, Presiding Judge, and Wadsworth and Guidry, JJ.)

Plaintiff-Appellant Thomas Perez Narvaez (Narvaez)
appeals from the December 20, 2023 Judgment (Fee Judgment)
entered in favor of Defendants-Appellees Simon B. Rojas (Simon)
and Kathy Rojas (Kathy) (together, the Rojases) by the District
Court of the First Circuit, Ko#olau Poko Division (District
Court).1/ The Fee Judgment awarded attorney's fees in the amount
of $26,570.19 to the Rojases. Narvaez also challenges the
District Court's October 19, 2023 order granting the Rojases'
renewed motion for award of attorney's fees (Fee Order).
We resolved the merits of Narvaez's summary possession
complaint against the Rojases in a prior appeal. See Narvaez v.
Rojas (Narvaez I), No. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX, 2023 WL 6184186 (Haw.
App. Sept. 22, 2023). Our September 22, 2023 Summary Disposition
Order affirmed the District Court's March 7, 2022 judgment in
favor of the Rojases. Id. at *5. However, we vacated the
District Court's March 29, 2022 order awarding attorney's fees to
the Rojases because it was entered without jurisdiction, after

1/
The Honorable Karin L. Holma presided.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAII REPORTS OR THE PACIFIC REPORTER

Narvaez filed his appeal from that earlier judgment. Id. We
noted that the attorney's fees motion remained pending in the
district court and could be addressed on remand. Id. Our
Judgment on Appeal was entered on October 23, 2023.
Meanwhile, on October 6, 2023, the Rojases filed a
renewed motion for attorney's fees (Renewed Fee Motion) in the
District Court. The requested fees included attorney's fees for
appellate work done in CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX. The District Court
granted the motion in the October 19, 2023 Fee Order and awarded
the requested fees in the December 20, 2023 Judgment.
On appeal, Narvaez contends that the District Court
erred as a matter of law and abused its discretion when it: (1)
"awarded attorney's fees to [the Rojases] pursuant to HRS § 607-
14, because this is an action for summary possession that is not
in the nature of assumpsit"; (2) "awarded attorneys' appellate
fees for Case No. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX in violation of the procedures
set in [Hawai#i Rules of Appellate Procedure (HRAP)] Rule 39(d)";
and (3) "awarded the full amount of attorneys' fees requested by
Appellees, even though the fees requested were not reasonable or
adequately supported." In his fourth point of error, Narvaez
contends that "[t]he District Court lacked jurisdiction when it
awarded attorneys' fees before this Court's judgment in Case No.
CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX was effective."
After reviewing the record on appeal and the relevant
legal authorities, and giving due consideration to the issues
raised and the arguments advanced by the parties, we resolve
Narvaez's contentions as follows.
(1) Because Narvaez's fourth point of error challenges
the District Court's jurisdiction to enter the award of
attorney's fees, we address that contention first.
HRAP Rule 36(c) provides in relevant part:

The intermediate court of appeals' judgment is
effective as follows:
(1) if no application for writ of certiorari is filed,
(A) upon the thirty-first day after entry or

(B) where the time for filing an application for a
writ of certiorari is extended in accordance with Rule
40.1(a) of these Rules, upon the expiration of the
extension[.]

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NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAII REPORTS OR THE PACIFIC REPORTER

HRAP Rule 36(c)(1).
Here, this court's Judgment on Appeal was entered on
October 23, 2023. No application for writ of certiorari was
filed, and the time for filing the relevant application was not
extended. Our judgment thus became effective on November 23,
2023. That is also the date when jurisdiction reverted to the
District Court. See State v. Carlton, 146 Hawai#i 16, 23-24, 455
P.3d 356, 363-64 (2019) (quoting and applying the Commentary
to HRAP Rule 41).
Until this court's judgment becomes effective, "the
lower court does not have the power to exercise authority over a
case in order to schedule further proceedings." Id. at 24, 455
P.3d at 364. Accordingly, the District Court lacked jurisdiction
to enter the Fee Order on October 19, 2023.
However, the Fee Order was not final and appealable
until the Judgment awarding the fee amount finally determined the
post-judgment proceeding. See Chun v. Bd. of Trs. of Emps.' Ret.
Sys. of State of Hawai#i, 106 Hawai#i 416, 428 n.12, 106 P.3d 339,
351 n.12 (2005). That Judgment was entered on December 20, 2023,
after jurisdiction had reverted to the District Court. Moreover,
on December 8, 2023, the District Court held a hearing on
Navarez's then-pending motion to stay the Fee Order, during which
the court "noted that there is no judgment to stay and [the
court] continues this hearing to give [the Rojases' counsel] time
to file a judgment." In these circumstances, where the District
Court appears to have considered the Fee Order and the award
amount after jurisdiction had returned to it, and before entering
the Judgment, we conclude that the Judgment was valid.
(2) In his first point of error, Narvaez contends that
the District Court abused its discretion in awarding attorney's
fees to the Rojases, because the underlying action is not in the
nature of assumpsit. Specifically, he argues that HRS § 607-14
does not provide a legal basis to award fees in a summary
possession action such as this, where the sublease agreement
between Narvaez and Simon (Sublease)2/ does not provide for

2/
Kathy is not a party to the Sublease.

3
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAII REPORTS OR THE PACIFIC REPORTER

attorneys' fees.3/
HRS § 607–14 mandates an award of attorney's fees "in
all actions in the nature of assumpsit and in all actions on a
. . . contract in writing that provides for an attorney's fee[.]"
There is no dispute here that the Sublease does not provide for
an attorney's fee. The challenged award therefore turns on
whether this action "is in the nature of assumpsit."
"Assumpsit is a common law form of action which allows
for the recovery of damages for nonperformance of a contract,
either express or implied, written or verbal, as well as quasi
contractual obligations." Cowan v. Exclusive Resorts PBL1, LLC,
156 Hawai#i 268, 274 n.4, 574 P.3d 288, 294 n.4 (2025) (brackets
omitted; some emphasis added) (quoting TSA Int'l Ltd. v. Shimizu
Corp., 92 Hawai#i 243, 264, 990 P.2d 713, 734 (1999)); Forbes v.
Haw. Culinary Corp., 85 Hawai#i 501, 507-08, 946 P.2d 609, 615-16
(App. 1997). In Forbes, this court held that a complaint for
summary possession and for money damages for rents due under a
lease are two separate causes of action, and recovery of the
leased premises by a writ of possession and recovery of contract
damages for rents are two distinct remedies. Id. at 510, 946
P.2d at 618.
Narvaez initiated this action by filing a district
court form complaint in which he checked applicable boxes and
filled in applicable blanks. He alleged that "Defendant"
breached the Sublease; he sought summary possession of, and a
writ of possession for, the subleased property (Property). He
did not allege that the Rojases failed to pay rent or otherwise
seek monetary damages from them. In opposing summary judgment,
Narvaez argued, in effect, that the Sublease was void because he
did not have a right to sublease the Property and the Rojases
therefore had no right to occupy the Property. He did not
mention damages.
We stated in Narvaez I:

3/
Narvaez did not waive this argument by not raising it in his first
appeal, as the Rojases incorrectly assert. Among other things, the Fee
Judgment, entered after our decision in Narvaez I, includes an award of
appellate attorney's fees, and is materially different from the judgment we
considered in the first appeal.

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NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAII REPORTS OR THE PACIFIC REPORTER

This is an action brought by Narvaez for summary possession.
"Summary possession is a statutory proceeding that enables a
landlord to regain possession of his property and remove any
tenant who is wrongfully in possession of the land in
question." Queen Emma Found. v. Tingco, 74 Haw. 294,
299-300, 845 P.2d 1186, 1189 (1992) (citing Kimball v.
Lincoln, 72 Haw. 117, 124, 809 P.2d 1130, 1134 (1991), and
HRS § 666-1 (1985)).

2023 WL 6184186, at *2.
Because Narvaez did not seek "the recovery of damages
for nonperformance of a contract, either express or implied,
written or verbal, as well as quasi contractual obligations[,]"
this was not an action in the nature of assumpsit under HRS
§ 607–14. Forbes, 85 Hawai#i at 507-08, 946 P.2d at 615-16
(emphasis added); see id. at 510, 946 P.2d at 618; cf. Lee v.
Aiu, 85 Hawai#i 19, 31-32, 936 P.2d 655, 667-68 (1997) ("Although
[the plaintiff] requested damages as alternative relief, we have
determined that specific performance of the agreement is the
remedy consistent with equitable reformation of the deed. Hence,
because [the plaintiff's] claim for specific enforcement is not
an action in assumpsit, we affirm the trial court's denial of her
request for attorney's fees against [the defendant] under HRS
§ 607–14."). Nor did the Sublease itself provide for an
attorney's fee. HRS § 607–14 therefore provided no basis for the
fee award to the Rojases, and the District Court acted outside
its discretion in making the award based on that statute.
In light of our disposition, we need not reach
Narvaez's remaining contentions.
For the reasons discussed above, the December 20, 2023
Judgment entered by the District Court of the First Circuit,
Ko#olau Poko Division, is reversed.

DATED: Honolulu, Hawai#i, February 27, 2026.

On the briefs:
/s/ Keith K. Hiraoka
Mateo Caballero Presiding Judge
(Caballero Law LLLC)
for Plaintiff-Appellant. /s/ Clyde J. Wadsworth
Associate Judge
Bosko Petricevic
for Defendants-Appellees. /s/ Kimberly T. Guidry
Associate Judge

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