Maui victims seek ex-consultant’s files on what Hawaiian Electric knew about wildfire risks

Lawyers for victims suing Hawaiian Electric over this month’s deadly wildfire in Maui have subpoenaed a former consultant for the public utility, seeking his correspondence with top utility officials about their knowledge of wildfire risks and necessary upgrades to its power grid, according to a recent court filing.

Lawyers for victims suing Hawaiian Electric over this month’s deadly wildfire in Maui have subpoenaed a former consultant for the public utility, seeking his correspondence with top utility officials about their knowledge of wildfire risks and necessary upgrades to its power grid, according to a recent court filing.

The Friday subpoena seeks to depose Mark Thaller in Virginia on Sept. 25 and require him to turn over records of his exchanges with Hawaiian Electric officials, including documents related to wildfire mitigation plans and “Decisions to Defer wildfire mitigation CAPEX,” or capital expenditures, “to future years,” the court filing says.

The subpoena also seeks what it identifies as the “Thaller Letter,” which purports to be a notification of his concerns to the utility company’s board of directors, according to the filing.

The letter has several attachments, including documents characterized as a June 6 “Ethics Investigation” and an “Ethics Cover Up by Execs and Legal,” according to the subpoena. The planned deposition will include at least two dozen questions, which are listed in a separate filing with the subpoena, which appeared aimed at establishing Thaller’s relationship with the company and the veracity of the records, according to court filings.

Mikal Watts, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys in the lawsuit, previously told NBC News that his legal team had planned to issue a subpoena duces tecum — a type of a subpoena that primarily seeks the production of documents — to a man whom Watts described as “a whistleblower” cooperating in the case.