Zuckerberg Sues Hawaiian Landowners To Give Them Money

News broke recently that Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire founder of Facebook, is suing Hawaiians who are descendants of natives that were granted land ownership. Contrary to how it sounds, which is basically a story about a typical rich bully stomping on the little guy, Zuckerberg and his legal team are asserting that this was to identify said descendants and give them money for their property.

The whole thing revolves around the 700-acre of beachfront property that the Facebook founder bought on Kauai island back in 2014, Business Insider reports. Parts of the property are actually owned by natives when it was given to them via a Hawaiian law called the Kuleana Act, which was established way back in 1850.

One of the descendants of those natives is Carlos Andrade, a retired professor and is the co-plaintiff of the lawsuit against the other land owners. As to why he would seemingly turn on his fellow Hawaiians in favor of a mainland billionaire, Zuckerberg’s Facebook post explains that this is to identify the remaining unknown landowners who may not even know that they are entitled to the property.

The post was meant to clarify exactly what was going on since high-profile lawsuits rarely ever come across as convoluted as the one that Zuckerberg is involved in now. Arrangements with known landowners were already underway, in which all parties involved are trying to come with a sum that would be agreeable to all of them.

“As with most transactions, the majority owners have the right to sell their land if they want, but we need to make sure smaller partial owners get paid for their fair share too,” the post reads.

Zuckerberg’s lawyer Keoni Shultz also notes how common title lawsuits are in order to put a name on titled lands with no claimants. This is simply a way to make sure that everyone who has a stake in the matter is in the loop and gets a say.