Hirokawa still faces civil lawsuit for his actions

HONOLULU (KHON2) — After a jury found him not guilty, Michael Hirokawa’s criminal concerns are behind him; but he still faces a civil lawsuit from the woman who accused him.

Legal experts said Tuesday’s verdict on May 30 will have little influence on the lawsuit.

Legal experts said the not guilty verdict will not be allowed as evidence in the civil lawsuit against Hirokawa. They also point out that burden of proof will be easier in a civil case compared to a criminal case where you need proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

“In a civil case, the plaintiff has to prove by a preponderance of the evidence which means, more likely than not, two things: Number one that she was injured and number two that based on the injury, she suffered damages,” said defense attorney Megan Kau, who is not involved in the case.

The lawsuit states, “As a result of defendant HIROKAWA’s savage attack, Plaintiff has suffered and continues to suffer from serious psychological pain and emotional distress, nightmares and mental anguish.”

Experts also point out that Hirokawa’s defense that he was drugged with Ambien and LSD will likely be used in the civil trial because it was effective in the criminal trial.

“They need to show more proof than what the plaintiffs can come up with and that’s essentially how you prove in a civil lawsuit. One side has to come up with a preponderance of evidence that outweighs what the other side is bringing up,” said Doug Chin, a former State Attorney General.

Because Hirokawa testified in the trial, Chin said that testimony will provide the plaintiff valuable information that can be used in the civil trial.

“So, that is something that the plaintiff’s attorneys can take a look at. Most likely they will be able to use that transcript in the civil lawsuit either to use against Mr. Hirokawa or to reevaluate what they want to do with the civil lawsuit,” said Chin.

Kau added that there will still be a lot of uncertainty with different attorneys presenting the evidence and a different jury to come up with a verdict.

“We’re gonna have totally different people sitting on the jury with totally different backgrounds, and we don’t know which way the jury is going to come out,” she said.

We reached out to attorneys for both sides, and they didn’t want to comment.