Zuckerberg’s Lawsuits Prompt Backlash

January 26, 2017

The concept of land ownership was foreign to ancient Hawaiians. A holistic view of all things from the ocean to the sea meant that no one owned land. Instead the land was divided into ahupuaa, sections of land tha usually extended from the mountain summit, through valleys to the edge of the reef in the sea. Thus providing all people with everything they needed for daily living.

Hawaiians call Mark Zuckerberg 'The Face of Neocolonialism' Over Land Lawsuits

Jon Letman in Kauai and Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisco @juliacarriew

Attorneys for Facebook’s CEO have filed suits against hundreds of Hawaiians centered around his 700-acre Kauai estate, alarming neighbors.

The road into Mark Zuckerberg’s 700-acre estate on Kauai, the center of ‘quiet title’ land suits against hundreds of Hawaiians. Photograph: Jon Letman

A few days after Christmas, Mark Zuckerberg shared a series of photographsof his family at their $100m, 700-acre property in Kauai. The Facebook CEO and his wife “fell in love with the community and the cloudy green mountains”, he wrote, and decided to “plant roots and join the community ourselves”.

Two days later, Zuckerberg’s lawyers filed lawsuits against hundreds of Hawaiians who may own an interest in small parcels within the boundaries of Zuckerberg’s estate. The “quiet title” suits, first reported by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, are used to clarify the often complicated history of land ownership in Hawaii and can result in owners being forced to sell their land at auction. In some cases, defendants are even required to pay the legal fees of the plaintiff – in this case, the world’s fifth richest man.