Hawaii County’s former Research and Development director has requested the county cover any damages that may be assessed against him in an age-discrimination lawsuit.
The County Council Finance Committee is set to hear Resolution 266-25 at 10 a.m. today at the West Hawaii Civic Center in Kailua-Kona. The resolution, if adopted, would indemnify Doug Adams — who was R&D director during the administration of former mayor Mitch Roth — against any monetary award resulting from a lawsuit filed in 2023 by David Freedman.
The resolution was introduced by Finance Committee Chairman Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder at the request of Deputy Corporation Counsel Mark Disher.
Depending on the committee vote, the resolution will receive a positive or negative recommendation when it is forwarded to the full council. Disher has requested the resolution appear on the agenda for the council’s Sept. 3 meeting.
The lawsuit, which also names the county as a defendant, was filed on Freedman’s behalf by Honolulu attorney Bosko Petricevic. It alleges that Freedman, who was born in 1961, was passed over when he applied to become the county’s film commissioner because of his age and Adams’ “blatant misrepresentations” and “predetermination to hire” Aulani Freitas for the position in 2022, 10 months after previous film commissioner Justin Finestone retired.
The filing seeks monetary damages, claiming that due to the county’s and Adams’ “wrongful conduct,” Freedman has “sustained substantial damages, including, but not limited to economic loss and emotional distress.”
Freedman — who has a master’s degree in film and TV production from the University of Southern California and is the executive producer of the “Critic’s Choice Awards” — alleges in his lawsuit that Freitas, who was hired, is “decades younger than (Freedman) with far less entertainment industry experience and connections than (Freedman)” and that both “are key to the success of bringing productions to the Big Island.”
Freedman also claims that Adams “as hiring manager had a prior working relationship with Freitas and waited for Freitas to become available for the position, thus resulting in a delay of 10 months from the time the previous film commissioner, Mr. Finestone, retired to the time in which the position was ‘opened.’”
According to Freedman’s complaint, he communicated occasionally with Adams after Finestone’s departure, and Adams allegedly told him numerous times the film commissioner opening hadn’t been posted. Freedman also claims that prior to opening, Adams “purposely misled the County Council, leading them to believe that he had posted the job and was not getting any qualified candidates.”
Freedman further alleges that Adams informed him on March 7, 2022, via blind-copy email “that the position had ‘opened’ and was now publicly posted.”
“Upon reviewing the post, (Freedman) noted that the application window was for a very small window of only nine days,” the complaint states. The lawsuit calls the application window “absurdly narrow.”
Freedman claims to have checked the county website and “confirmed that the physical office location for the film commissioner was located in Hilo.” He also claims that “despite all the evidence to the contrary, (the county) contends that the position (Freedman) applied for was located in Kailua-Kona.”
According to Freedman, his application wasn’t forwarded by county Human Resources to R&D for consideration because of the location snafu. He further claims that despite a score on his application that would qualify him to be hired, he wasn’t interviewed for the post.
The county and Adams have filed a motion seeking a summary judgment in their favor, which would effectively dismiss the lawsuit.
The county denies age discrimination. It also said its job announcement stated the position was in Kailua-Kona and Freedman “indicated in his application that he was only available for a position in the Hilo District.”
Hilo Circuit Judge Henry Nakamoto has scheduled a hearing about the county’s and Adams’ motion for 10 a.m. Sept. 24.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.