HONOLULU -- Four non-Hawaiian students are suing the Kamehameha Schools after they were denied admission.

It was more than a year ago the estate settled a similar lawsuit over its admissions policy which gives preference to Native Hawaiians.

The school paid out a reported $7 million.

At the time, critics said they were very concerned a settlement of that magnitude could lead to a long line of others lining up to sue the school.

On Wednesday, two attorneys filed the lawsuit on behalf of two boys and two girls.

Their lawsuit claims the Kamehameha Schools admissions policy giving preference to Native Hawaiian children is discriminatory and illegal.

The schools said it received a demand letter from the students' attorneys last week threatening to sue unless the four non-Hawaiian students were admitted.

The schools said no.

"The position of the schools is we are going to adhere to our preference policy," Kamehameha Schools Trustee Corbett Kalama said.

Attorneys for the students said their clients applied to Kamehameha Schools and were denied admission at different various and grade levels. Two attorneys filed the lawsuit on their behalf.

Eric Grant, who sued the school before and David Rosen who solicited new clients when Kamehameha settled the original lawsuit for a reported $7 million before the case got to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"It's not an issue of whether we think we will be successful. We want a result but unfortunately that result was denied when the trustees decided to throw money at the last case and have it settled," Rosen said. (An earlier version of this story mistakenly attributed this quote to trustee Kalama.)

Kamehameha says it will vigorously defend itself against this latest challenge. It believes it will prevail with two lower court decisions in its favor.

Meanwhile, the schools trustees filed their own lawsuit Wednesday against the plaintiffs in the original suit for breach of confidentiality.

The trustees claim Honolulu Attorney John Goemans disclosed the multi-million dollar figure that was supposed to be kept secret.

"We entered into agreement and they are certain values you adhere to and they didn't adhere to, they breached confidentiality," Kalama said.