Sandra May is 83. She has lived in her Wilhelmina Rise home in Honolulu for 56 years, raising her son and scraping by on a fixed income supplemented by renting out an attached apartment. Then the city decided she owed them $590,000. Why? A computer glitch.
Under Honolulu’s strict housing laws, renting or advertising a residential property for less than 30 days outside of designated resort zones is illegal. May didn’t do this. A technical hiccup on a rental hosting platform did. The site accidentally let users view short-term availability, even though no one could actually book a short stay. The city didn’t care about the distinction. They slapped her with a $10,000-a-day fine.
It gets worse. May was hospitalized after a brutal car crash. The city’s warning letters piled up in her mailbox while she was fighting for her life. By the time she got home and opened the mail, 59 days had passed. The bill was astronomical.
She called the city. She explained the crash. She explained the hospital stay. Their response? Get a lawyer.
Now, she is doing exactly that. Backed by the Pacific Legal Foundation, May has filed a federal lawsuit against the City and County of Honolulu. Her lawyer, Loren Seehase, argues the fine is a blatant violation of the Eighth Amendment’s protection against excessive fines. You cannot ruin a person’s life over a technical error.
But Honolulu is playing hardball. They put a lien on her home. They blocked her from renewing her driver’s license and car registration. She is trapped. She cannot drive. She is terrified of losing her “little piece of paradise.”
This isn’t an isolated incident. It is a cash grab. According to Seehase, Honolulu has squeezed over $90 million out of residents using these exact advertising violations. The city, predictably, refused to comment on the active lawsuit.
