Claire E. Doi v. Halekulani Corporation, Dba Waikiki Parc Hotel

In this employment discrimination litigation, we must decide whether the district court correctly enforced a negotiated set tlement without holding an evidentiary-hearing where, after the terms were placed on the record and agreed to by all parties in open court, the plaintiff refused to execute a written agreement.

I

This appeal began as a discrimination lawsuit, which Claire Doi filed against her employer, the Halekulani Corporation, doing business as the Waikiki Parc Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 16, 1998. Doi’s complaint alleged, inter alia, claims of sex and race discrimination in violation of Title VII, age discrimination in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), and various state law claims. After Halekulani filed an answer to the complaint, the parties entered into settlement negotiations.

It appears that the district court was involved in facilitating settlement discussions, which ultimately proved fruitful. On May 10, 2000, counsel for both Doi and Halekulani — as well as both Doi herself and a representative of Halekulani — came into open court to announce that the parties had agreed to settle the case and to place the terms of…