Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 7, 1 July 1992 — Paralegal brings hope in quiet title actions [ARTICLE]

Paralegal brings hope in quiet title actions

by Deborah L. Ward "Just don't give up." That's the advice Sharon Johnson shares with the native Hawaiian clients who seek her help when quiet tdtle and other legal actions loom large and complicated. Johnson, a native Hawaiian certified paralegal in Kailua-Kona, is another OHA Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund recipient. She does business as Mana'olana Paralegal Services. She specializes in genealogical research and advising clients faced with legal action, quiet title and other land matters. The bulk of her business is with native Hawaiian families. In the last two years, she has dealt with 20 cases involving 60 families. Johnson is one of very few qualified paralegals specializing in genealogical and title research on the island of Hawai'i. The demand for her services ean only grow in West Hawai'i, as the population increases, land values escalate and native Hawaiians become more aware of their rights. She chose her firm name, whieh means "hope," when her grandmother told her sometimes Hawaiians wouldn't fight back in legal matters because "we have no hope." Johnson says, "I had the knowledge and I was willing to share it." She adds, "Knowledge defeats intimidation." To Johnson it is very important to sit with a family and clearly explain what quiet title means and how it affects them, so that everyone understands and ean make an informed decision

together. She has met with as many as 18 families affected in a single case, explaining patiently to eaeh of them about quiet title actions until they all understand. Johnson counts it time well spent. "I want them to make the ehoiee," she says, "and that it not be determined for them. "Lots of Hawaiian families have lost land because they didn't know how to respond to a quiet title action. Generally you have 20 days to respond or lose by default," she says. "You must respond in order to start proceedings." There is time afterward to begin preparing documents, she added. "Maybe they don't have to sell. Could they trade (land parcels)?" Johnson often mediates between her clients and attorneys, sometimes where big land claims are at stake. She says that the biggest change in quiet title actions is the new requirement for a "diligent search" for named and unnamed heirs in an action. Johnson has been hired by attorneys for title claimants who asked her to do genealogical research to find heirs. She checks the vital statistics — death, marriage and birth records — probate and conveyance records. She checks church records, especially for names before 1890. She looks through immigrant records and even Father Damien's records at the Hansen's disease settlement at Kalaupapa, Moloka'i. "This benefits Hawaiians who might not be found," she says. "The most difficult thing about this for me is my love of Hawaiian history, for Hawaiian »

genealogy," says Johnson, explaining it is hard to stop the research onee she has found sufficient evidence to prove title. Johnson has found a new life's passion in her paralegal career, one that would never have crossed her mind five years ago when she pursued a rising political career in Alabama. Though she was born in Alabama, her military father and native Hawaiian mother, Ellen Kalehua Alapai, returned to Hawai'i with their children when she was still very young. However they soon returned to Alabama, and Johnson completed her education there. Onee out of college, Johnson worked as a secretary until she began doing research and public relations working in different management positions for the Republican Party executive committee in Alabama. She was 34 and a campaign manager for a congressional eampaign when her mother called her home to Kona to eheek out a quiet title citation involving the family. It was October 1988 and the campaign was building when Johnson eame home, feeling torn. For two weeks she plunged into family genealogical research, visiting the library and archives, staying up all night. She had never heard of quiet title before in her life. Before she left Hawai'i she put all her research together for a Hilo attorney to review. (Her family got their money.) She went back to Alabama, and soon the attorney called her back about another case. She returned for another month and continued her research. It was while flying back and forth in 1 988 and 1989 that she realized she felt a calling to remain in Hawai'i. It took her a year to decide, but onee she did, she was at peaee. She moved to Hawai'i with her two teenaged sons. On her own, she began to assist Hawaiian families with their genealogical research and quiet title cases. They asked her to speak to their attorneys for them because the families didn't understand their attorneys. It took an attorney to tell her she was a paralegal, however. With the encouragement of several Big Island attorneys who predicted quiet title would be a big issue for the next 20 years, she took a paralegal certification course at the University of Hawai"i, Hilo. She learned legal terms, how to draw up legal documents, and how to write office memos and appellate briefs. She learned quiet title on her own. At the insistence of a client and friend, Carol Ka'aihue, Johnson applied for a loan from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund and got it. Soon after, she incorporated as Mana'olana Paralegal Services, with an office at Pawai Center in the KailuaKona. She continues to work on quiet title and genealogical research, but her business now includes administrative hearings as well. Her fees are based on client ineome. Johnson hopes to open a Honolulu office in the future. She would like to train other dedicated paralegals and perhaps expand her services to more islands. She also plans to develop seminars on basic genealogical research and civil procedures. Will she be going to law school? Not now, she says, but maybe when the time is right.

Mana'olana Paralegal Services is at the Pawai Center, Bldg. G-3 in Kailua-Kona. Mailing address is P.O. Box 5213, Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i, 96745. Telephone (808) 329-8955.