A California woman being sued by a developer whose contractor erroneously built a home on her lot in Hawaiian Paradise Park testified in court Friday that monetary damages are not what she is seeking.
Annaleine “Anne” Reynolds bought the one-acre lot on 8th Avenue in the Puna subdivision for about $22,000 in a 2018 tax sale. She said her intent was to build a home for her children on the property when finances allow.
Reynolds is seeking a court order requiring Keaau Development Partnership and PJ’s Construction to remove the home they built on the property and to restore the previously undeveloped lot “to its natural state prior to the wrongful construction.”
Her motion requests that the developer and contractor foot the bill for the lot’s restoration.
The developer has offered Reynolds the adjacent one-acre lot — where the house was supposed to be built — but Reynolds declined the offer, citing a spiritual attachment to the property she bought prior to the construction snafu.
“I would say there wouldn’t really be any money that would compensate for this mistake,” Reynolds told the court in response to a question from her attorney, James DiPasquale. “All this emotional distress from having to deal with this for months without any solution, and now being sued for it. And it’s not like I didn’t do my due diligence in good faith to be a reasonable person.”
Reynolds, PJ’s Construction and Janel Araujo — who shepherded the building permit process for the developer — are all being sued by Keaau Development, which is trying to recoup more than $307,000 it paid to PJ’s and its subcontractors, plus another $300,000 in lost profits, interest, attorneys’ fees and damages.
Reynolds and PJ’s have filed counter-complaints against Keaau Development.
Third Circuit Chief Judge Robert Kim is hearing the case in Kona because both Hilo Circuit judges, Henry Nakamoto and Peter Kubota, recused themselves from the case.
Reynolds told the judge she was called on June 14, 2023, by Dana Kenny, principal broker for Savio Realty in Hilo, notifying Reynolds that the home was mistakenly built on her lot and that it had been sold.
“What is your desire in respect to this house?” DiPasquale asked.
“I don’t really care for it,” Reynolds replied.
“Can you describe (the lot) prior to the house being constructed?”
After a long pause, Reynolds replied, her voice wracked with emotion, “Before there was construction on this lot, it was a really beautiful piece of land. It was in its natural state. It had really beautiful trees. It had beautiful vegetation. The energy of it was really, really nice and sacred.”
She added when she visited the lot on Feb. 28, it was completely bulldozed and the house was in the middle of the property.
“It was overgrown with all this, like, weeds,” she said. “And then the water catchment, the cover of it was falling off. The windows were all open. The back door was open, too.”
Reynolds said she found both the house keys and evidence of squatters inside the home.
“There was poop in the toilet and even on the floor in the hallway,” she said, and added the structure appeared to be infested with termites.
Reynolds said she paid more than $16,000 to erect a fence around the perimeter on the property after the house was built.
She also filed a complaint and a request for an investigation with the county Department of Public Works. She said she did so “because there was no resolution to the issue.”
“I found out about the issue, about this house being constructed on my land, on June 14, 2023, and it was already Jan. 10, 2024. And I was still in the same place that I was in the beginning,” she said.
According to Reynolds, she was told her tax bill would increase from $350 yearly when she bought the property to more than $4,000 this year. She also testified she was rejected when she tried to insure the property because of the construction mix-up.
“What do you want to see happen to the property?” DiPasquale inquired.
“I just want that monstrosity to be removed, please. And restore my land to as close as it used to be,” Reynolds answered.
Lawyers for Keaau Development and PJ’s Construction are expected to cross-examine Reynolds when the hearing resumes at 8:30 a.m. April 23.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.