Facebook Owner To Sue Hundreds Of Hawaiians To Protect His 700-Acre Kauai Estate

Mark Zuckerberg paid close to $100 million for 700 acres of beachfront property on the island of Kauai in 2014.

Now the Facebook billionaire is suing a few hundred Hawaiians who still have legal-ownership claims to parts of his vacation estate through their ancestors, as reported by the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

Three holding companies controlled by Zuckerberg filed eight lawsuits in local court on December 30 against families who collectively inherited 14 parcels of land through the Kuleana Act, a Hawaiian law established in 1850 that gave natives the right to own the land that they lived on for the first time.

The 14 parcels total just 8.04 of the 700 acres Zuckerberg owns, but the law gives any direct family member of a parcel's original owner the right to enter the otherwise private compound. Only one of the parcels is being used, by a retired professor named Carlos Andrade, who has joined Zuckerberg as a coplaintiff in the lawsuits.

The quiet-title lawsuits that have been filed are designed to identify all property owners and give them the ability to sell their ownership stakes at auction, according to Keoni Shultz, an attorney representing Zuckerberg. Because the ownership stakes are passed down and divided among family descendants by the state, many people don't realize they have a claim until action is taken against them in court.

“It is common in Hawaii to have small parcels of land within the boundaries of a larger tract, and for the title to these smaller parcels to have become broken or clouded over time," Shultz told Business Insider in a statement. "In some cases, co-owners may not even be aware of their interests. Quiet title actions are the standard and prescribed process to identify all potential co-owners, determine ownership, and ensure that, if there are other co-owners, each receives appropriate value for their ownership share.”

This isn't the first time that Zuckerberg has taken steps to fortifying his Kauai property. Last year he angered neighbors by constructing a rock wall that blocked their views of the ocean.