2019 Hawaii Revised Statutes
TITLE 36. CIVIL REMEDIES AND DEFENSES AND SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS
662. State Tort Liability Act
662-5 Jury.
§662-5 Jury. Any action against the State under this chapter shall be tried by the court without a jury; provided that the court, with the consent of all the parties, may order a trial with a jury whose verdict shall have the same effect as if trial by jury had been a matter of right. [L 1957, c 312, pt of §1; Supp, §245A-5; HRS §662-5; am L 1979, c 152, §2]
Case Notes
This section held not to entitle county of Hawaii to nonjury trial. 57 H. 656, 562 P.2d 436 (1977).
Consent to trial cannot be involuntary or implied. 6 H. App. 582, 733 P.2d 1224 (1987).
Read together, this section acts as a limitation on the general state tort liability waiver found in §662-2, and the general waiver thus does not provide a right to a jury trial for tort actions against state entities; therefore, the circuit court did not err in independently determining the state hospital's liability, resulting in joint and several damages different from those "awarded" by the jury. 127 H. 325 (App.), 278 P.3d 382 (2012).
Read together with this section, §663-10.9(3) requires the imposition of joint and several liability only as adjudicated by the court, not the jury; having determined that the state hospital's individual degree of negligence was more than twenty-five per cent, the circuit court properly awarded joint and several damages against the hospital to the full extent that the court determined patient's injuries to arise out of the subject incident, and therefore complied with §663-10.9(3). 127 H. 325 (App.), 278 P.3d 382 (2012).
