Frederick John Arensmeyer

For over a decade following the subprime mortgage crisis and the onset of the Great Recession of the late 2000s, Mr. Arensmeyer has practiced private civil litigation, with emphases in the areas of real estate, foreclosure, and consumer protection. He has helped hundreds of distressed home and business owners prevent foreclosure and loss of their properties, renegotiate and restructure their mortgage loans, and even in the most dire cases, ensure that those facing unpreventable eviction were able to vacate with dignity, on their own terms, and with substantial money in their pockets paid in settlement by foreclosing plaintiffs.

In addition to litigation, Mr. Arensmeyer is an accomplished appellate advocate, practicing before the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, the Hawaii Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Arensmeyer’s appellate practice has been integral to the progressive development of consumer mortgage law in Hawaii over the past decade, which has evolved from an antiquated system overwhelmingly favoring banks and corporations, to one that every day becomes more and more protective of the rights of Hawaii’s people.

Since 2011, Mr. Arensmeyer has secured appellate victories on behalf of appellants in over forty appeals, including landmark victories before the Hawaii Supreme Court in Santiago v. Tanaka, 137 Hawaii 137, 366 P.3d 612 (Haw. Jan. 15, 2016), Mount v. Apao, 139 Hawaii 167, 384 P.3d 1268 (Haw. Nov. 1, 2016), Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Behrendt, 142 Hawaii 37, 414 P.3d 89 (Haw. March 15, 2018) and Sakal v. Ass’n of Apartment Owners of Hawaiian Monarch, 143 Hawaii 219, 426 P.3d 443 (Haw. App. July 26, 2018), vacated in part and affirmed in part, Sakal v. Association of Apartment Owners of Hawaiian Monarch, 148 Hawaii 1, 466 P.3d 399 (Haw. June 18, 2020).