(a) Any person may be made a defendant in the action who has or claims, or may claim, an interest in the property adverse to the plaintiff, or who is a necessary party to a complete determination or settlement of the issues involved therein.

Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 669-2

  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
(b) Unknown persons may be made parties as provided by the rules of court, if:

(1) It shall be shown by the complaint that there are or may be persons unknown, claiming by, through, or under any named person; or
(2) Other facts shall be shown by the complaint giving rise to an actual controversy between plaintiff and persons unidentified or whose names are unknown.
(c) In any action brought under section 669-1(b):

(1) There shall be joined as defendants, in addition to persons known to have an adverse interest, the adjoining owners and occupants so far as known.
(2) If all persons interested who are known or can be joined as provided by subsection (b) have been made parties, the summons in addition to being directed to such parties, may be directed to unknown persons generally and in such case, after service upon the persons summoned, known and unknown, the court shall have jurisdiction to proceed as though all persons interested were in being and personally served, but any adjudication shall, as regards a defendant served pursuant to § 669-3, affect only the property which is the subject of the action except as provided by section 634-23.
(d) In any action brought under § 669-1, the State may be joined as a defendant only when:

(1) It is an adjoining property owner and the same is alleged by the plaintiff; or
(2) The party asserting the claim can demonstrate, by a title search prepared at the party’s own expense by an abstractor, that the State has a clear and specific interest in the subject matter of the suit which is adverse to the plaintiff’s claim, and a copy of the title search is furnished to the State without cost, together with the complaint.
(e) In any action brought under § 669-1, the office of Hawaiian affairs shall be joined as a defendant, by service upon the office of Hawaiian affairs, when:

(1) The land claimed by the plaintiff is kuleana land; and
(2) The plaintiff has reason to believe that an owner of an inheritable interest in the kuleana land died intestate or died partially intestate and there is or was no taker under article II of the Hawaii uniform probate code.

For purposes of this subsection, “kuleana land” means that land granted to native tenants pursuant to L 1850, p. 202, entitled “An Act Confirming Certain Resolutions of the King and Privy Council, Passed on the 21st Day of December, A.D. 1849, Granting to the Common People Allodial Titles for Their Own Lands and House Lots, and Certain Other Privileges”, as originally enacted and as amended.

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