Michael D'AnDreA v. State of Hawaii

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiff-Appellant Michael D’Andrea appeals the district court’s summary judgment dismissal of his claims under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, Title VII and Hawaii Revised Statutes § 378-2, the Hawaii Whistleblowers’ Protection Act, and Hawaii tort law. As the facts and procedural history are familiar to the parties, we do not recite them here except as necessary to explain our disposition. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

The district court properly concluded that the August 7, 2007 settlement agreement bars all of D’Andrea’s claims. “As a general rule, a properly executed settlement precludes future litigation for its parties.” Exotics Hawaii-Kona, Inc. v. E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co., 116 Hawai’i 277, 172 P.3d 1021, 1032 (2007) (citation omitted). D’Andrea agreed to release the University of Hawaii (University) and its past and present employees and officials from all claims “whether known or unknown, pled or unpled, suspected or unsuspected, concealed or unconcealed ... arising out of or relating in any way to the Litigation and the [April 11, 2007] Complaint, including but not limited to the claims that were asserted and could have…