Two California heiresses to the Damon Estate fortune will each receive as much as $100 million under a ruling by the state Supreme Court.

The high court yesterday unanimously upheld a 2001 decision by Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall, which gave Sharon Damon of Carmel and Madeleine Wright of Pebble Beach the largest chunk of the $900 million Damon empire.

The $100 million payout would be the largest transfer by any land trust in Hawai'i to a single beneficiary.

"We're very pleased that the court agreed with Judge Crandall, who we thought did an excellent job of navigating through the legal documents and the family history to arrive at the right conclusion as to how Mr. Damon wanted his estate distributed," said Warren Price, who is Sharon Damon's attorney.

Sharon Damon and Wright are sisters and the great-granddaughters of Samuel Mills Damon, who served as minister of finance under Queen Lili'u-okalani and followed Charles Reed Bishop as head of First Hawaiian Bank's predecessor, Bishop & Co.

Samuel Damon, who died in 1924, used his fortune to create the estate, which was set to terminate with the death of his last grandchild, which occurred in November 2004.

Until recently, the estate had assets of about $900 million and was the fifth-largest private landowner in Hawai'i with more than 121,000 acres. It also was First Hawaiian's largest shareholder before it sold its stake to BNP Paribas several years ago.

Sharon Damon and Madeleine Wright have already received $24 million each as a result of a previous distribution by the Damon Estate. The estate had held on to the remaining $74 million pending the Supreme Court's ruling.

Carroll Taylor, attorney for Damon heir Michael Haig, who appealed Crandall's ruling, could not be reached for immediate comment.

Haig, the sisters' second cousin, had argued that the Damon wealth should be divided more equally among Samuel Mills Damon's 20 great-grandchildren, giving each about $40 million.

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.