2023 Hawaii Revised Statutes
Title 36. Civil Remedies and Defenses and Special Proceedings
663. Tort Actions
- 663-1 Torts, who may sue and for what.
- 663-1.2 Tort liability for breach of contract; punitive damages.
- 663-1.3 "Ad damnum" clause prohibited.
- 663-1.4 Payment of reasonable attorney's fees and costs in defense of suit.
- 663-1.5 Exception to liability.
- 663-1.52 REPEALED.
- 663-1.53 Liability for operation of a family child care home.
- 663-1.54 Recreational activity liability. (a) Any person who owns or operates a business providing recreational activities to the public, such as, without limitation, scuba or skin diving, sky diving, bicycle tours, and mountain climbing, shall exercise reasonable care to ensure the safety of patrons and the public, and shall be liable for damages resulting from negligent acts or omissions of the person which cause injury. (b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), owners and operators of recreational activities shall not be liable for damages for injuries to a patron resulting from inherent risks associated with the recreational activity if the patron participating in the recreational activity voluntarily signs a written release waiving the owner or operator's liability for damages for injuries resulting from the inherent risks. No waiver shall be valid unless: (1) The owner or operator first provides full disclosure of the inherent risks associated with the recreational activity; and (2) The owner or operator takes reasonable steps to ensure that each patron is physically able to participate in the activity and is given the necessary instruction to participate in the activity safely. (c) The determination of whether a risk is inherent or not is for the trier of fact. As used in this section an "inherent risk": (1) Is a danger that a reasonable person would understand to be associated with the activity by the very nature of the activity engaged in; (2) Is a danger that a reasonable person would understand to exist despite the owner or operator's exercise of reasonable care to eliminate or minimize the danger, and is generally beyond the control of the owner or operator; and (3) Does not result from the negligence, gross negligence, or wanton act or omission of the owner or operator. [L 1997, c 129, §1] Cross References Hotelkeeper's liability for certain beach and ocean activities and recreational equipment, see § §486K-5.5 and 486K-5.6. Landowners' liability, see chapter 520. Ocean recreation and coast
- 663-1.55 Volunteer firefighters; limited liability.
- 663-1.56 Conclusive presumptions relating to duty of public entities to warn of dangers at public beach parks.
- 663-1.57 Owner to felon; limited liability. (a) An owner, including but not limited to a public entity, of any estate or any other interest in real property, whether possessory or nonpossessory, or any agent of the owner lawfully on the premises by consent of the owner, shall not be liable to any perpetrator engaged in any of the felonies set forth in subsection (b) for any injury or death to the perpetrator that occurs upon that property during the course of or after the commission of such felony, or when a reasonable person would believe that commission of a felony as set forth in subsection (b) is imminent; provided that if the perpetrator is injured, the perpetrator is charged with the criminal offense and convicted of the criminal offense or of a lesser included felony or misdemeanor. (b) This section applies to the following felonies: (1) Murder in the first or second degree; (2) Attempted murder in the first or second degree; (3) Any class A felony as provided in the Hawaii Penal Code, including any attempt or conspiracy to commit a crime classified as a class A felony; (4) Any class B felony involving violence or physical harm as provided in the Hawaii Penal Code; (5) Any felony punishable by imprisonment for life; (6) Any other felony in which the person inflicts serious bodily injury on another person; and (7) Any felony in which the person personally used a firearm or a dangerous or deadly weapon. (c) The limitation on liability under this section arises: (1) At the moment the perpetrator commences the felony to which this section applies; or (2) At the moment the owner or agent of the owner lawfully on the premises by consent of the owner believes that a commission of a felony under subsection (b) is imminent; and extends to the moment the perpetrator is no longer upon the property. (d) The limitation on liability under this section applies only when the perpetrator's conduct in furtherance of the commission of a felony specified in subsection (b) proximately or legally causes the injury or death. (e) This sec
- 663-1.6 Duty to assist.
- 663-1.7 Professional society; peer review committee; ethics committee; hospital or clinic quality assurance committee; no liability; exceptions.
- 663-1.8 Chiropractic society; peer review committee; no liability; exceptions.
- 663-1.9 Exception to liability for health care provider, authorized person withdrawing blood or urine at the direction of a police officer.
- 663-1.95 Employers' job reference immunity. (a) An employer that provides to a prospective employer information or opinion about a current or former employee's job performance is presumed to be acting in good faith and shall have a qualified immunity from civil liability for disclosing the information and for the consequences of the disclosure. (b) The good faith presumption under subsection (a) shall be rebuttable upon a showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the information or opinion disclosed was: (1) Knowingly false; or (2) Knowingly misleading. (c) Nothing in this section shall affect rights, obligations, remedies, liabilities, or standards of proof under chapters 89, 92F, 368, and 378. [L 1998, c 182, §1] Revision Note Section heading renamed pursuant to §23G-15.
- 663-2 Defense of lawful detention.
- 663-3 Death by wrongful act.
- 663-4 Actions which survive death of wrongdoer or other person liable.
- 663-5 Death of defendant, continuance of action.
- 663-6 Death of wrongdoer or other person liable prior to suit, time for commencing action against the estate.
- 663-7 Survival of cause of action.
- 663-8 Damages, future earnings.
- 663-8.3 Loss or impairment of earning capacity; damages.
- 663-8.5 Noneconomic damages; defined.
- 663-8.7 Limitation on pain and suffering.
- 663-8.9 Serious emotional distress arising from property damage; cause of action abolished; exception for physical injury.
- 663-9 Liability of animal owners.
- 663-9.1 Exception of animal owners to civil liability.
- 663-9.5 Liability of firearm owners.
- 663-10 Collateral sources; protection for liens and rights of subrogation.
- 663-10.5 Government entity as a tortfeasor; abolition of joint and several liability. (a) Any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, including but not limited to sections 663-10.9, 663-11 to 663-13, 663-16, 663-17, and 663-31, in any case where a government entity is determined to be a tortfeasor along with one or more other tortfeasors, the government entity shall be liable for no more than that percentage share of the damages attributable to the government entity; provided that joint and several liability shall be retained for tort claims relating to the maintenance and design of highways pursuant to section 663-10.9. (b) For purposes of this section, the liability of a government entity shall include its vicarious liability for the acts or omissions of its officers and employees. (c) For purposes of this section, "government entity" means any unit of government in this State, including: (1) The State; (2) Any county or combination of counties, department, agency, institution, board, commission, district, council, bureau, office, governing authority, or other instrumentality of state or county government; and (3) Any corporation or other establishment owned, operated, or managed by or on behalf of this State or any county. [L 1994, c 213, §1; am L 2001, c 300, §2; am L 2006, c 112, §1; am L 2017, c 12, §72] Case Notes The plain language of this section's nonretroactivity clause focuses upon the specific "acts or omissions" that predicate a plaintiff's claim, and, therefore, the clause's applicability is not keyed to when the plaintiff's cause of action "accrues"; thus, trial court erred in apportioning liability between department of education (DOE) and teacher and DOE was liable to plaintiffs for the full extent of their damages. 100 H. 34, 58 P.3d 545 (2002). This section, which abolishes joint and several liability for government entities, did not supersede or impliedly repeal (1) §663-10.9(4), which expressly allows for recovery of non-economic damages in mo
- 663-10.6 Exemption for providing shelter and subsistence to the needy.
- 663-10.7 Exemption for providing emergency access to land, shelter, and subsistence during a disaster.
- 663-10.9 Abolition of joint and several liability; exceptions.
- 663-10.95 Motorsports facilities; waiver of liability.
- 663-10.98 Design professional liability; highways.
- 663-10.99 Trespass; limited liability of agricultural land owner.
- 663-11 Joint tortfeasors defined.
- 663-12 Right of contribution; accrual; pro rata share.
- 663-13 Judgment against one tortfeasor.
- 663-14 and 663-15 REPEALED.
- 663-15.5 Release; joint tortfeasors; co-obligors; good faith settlement.
- 663-16 Indemnity.
- 663-17 Third-party practice; enforcement of right to contribution; unnamed defendants and third-party defendants.
PROPERTY DAMAGE CASES
- 663-21 Advance payments not admission.
- 663-22 Reduction of award.
- 663-23 Refund of payments.
- 663-24 Effect on insurance.
UNDER AGE TWENTY-ONE Part VI. LIMITATIONS ON PUBLIC ENTITY LIABILITY IN ACTIONS
BASED UPON DUTY TO WARN OF NATURAL CONDITIONS
Note
As to procedural statutes superseded by the rules of court, see note preceding Title 32.
Cross References
Emergency use of private real property, see chapter 135.
Law Journals and Reviews
Products Liability in Hawaii. 14 HBJ, no. 4, at 127 (1979).
The Negligent Infliction of Mental Distress II, or "How Far Is Too Far?". 14 HBJ, no. 4, at 151 (1979).
Hawaii's Loss of Consortium Doctrine: Our Substantive, Relational Interest Focus. VII HBJ, no. 13, at 59 (2003).
Settling Civil Lawsuits in the Hawaii Circuit Courts. 10 HBJ, no. 13, at 1 (2007).
Managing a Complex Construction Defect Case. 10 HBJ, no. 13, at 133 (2007).
Tort Case Summaries. 13 HBJ, no. 13, at 1 (2009).
The Hawai`i Law on Legal Malpractice and Liability to Non-Clients. 13 HBJ, no. 13, at 41 (2009).
Is it the Deep Six for "Deepening Insolvency?" 13 HBJ, no. 13, at 155 (2009).
Pitfalls in the Collaboration of Attorneys and Expert Witnesses. 13 HBJ, no. 13, at 173 (2009).
Summaries of Hawai`i Tort Cases (2011). 15 HBJ, no. 13, at 111 (2013).
The Wavering Line Between Medical Malpractice and Ordinary Negligence in Elder Abuse Litigation. 18 HBJ, no. 13, at 81 (2015).
The Scope of Liability for Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress: Making "the Punishment Fit the Crime". 1 UH L. Rev. 1 (1979).
Torts and Workers' Compensation. 2 UH L. Rev. 209 (1979).
Tort and Insurance "Reform" in a Common Law Court. 14 UH L. Rev. 55 (1992).
Beyond Compensation: Dealing with Accidents in the 21st Century. (International Workshop). 15 UH L. Rev. 523 (1993).
AIDS Phobia: The Infliction of Emotional Distress and the Fear of AIDS. 16 UH L. Rev. 143 (1994).
United States v. Burke and Internal Revenue Code Section 104(a)(2): When Will Personal Injury Damages Be Taxed? 16 UH L. Rev. 263 (1994).
Recreational Activity Liability in Hawai`i: Are Waivers Worth the Paper on Which They Are Written? 21 UH L. Rev. 715 (1999).
Hawai`i's Response to Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation and the Protection of Citizens' Right to Petition the Government. 24 UH L. Rev. 411 (2001).
Child Pornography on the Internet: The Effect of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 on Tort Recovery for Victims Against Internet Service Providers. 24 UH L. Rev. 763 (2002).
Fido Seeks Full Membership In The Family: Dismantling The Property Classification of Companion Animals By Statute. 25 UH L. Rev. 481 (2003).
Scientific Expert Admissibility in Mold Exposure Litigation: Establishing Reliability of Methodologies in Light of Hawai`i's Evidentiary Standard. 26 UH L. Rev. 99 (2003).
Don't Smile, Your Image Has Just Been Recorded on a Camera-Phone: The Need For Privacy in the Public Sphere. 27 UH L. Rev. 377 (2005).
Global Warming: Attorneys General Declare Public Nuisance. 27 UH L. Rev. 525 (2005).
Extending Loss of Consortium to Reciprocal Beneficiaries: Breaking the Illogical Boundary Between Severe Injury and Death in Hawai`i Tort Law. 28 UH L. Rev. 429 (2006).
Hawai`i's Workers' Compensation Scheme: An Employer's License to Kill? 29 UH L. Rev. 211 (2006).
Medical Malpractice in Hawai`i: Tort Crisis or Crisis of Medical Errors? 30 UH L. Rev. 167 (2007).
From Anti-Injunction to Radical Reform: Proposing a Unifying Approach to Class-Action Adjudication. 31 UH L. Rev. 155 (2008).
Electronic Discovery: A Call for a New Rules Regime for the Hawai`i Courts. 32 UH L. Rev. 153 (2009).
Plausibility of Notice Pleading: Hawaii's Pleading Standards in the Wake of Ashcroft v. Iqbal. 32 UH L. Rev. 485 (2010).
Kanahele v. Han: Economic Sufferings Legally Implies Non-Economic Sufferings. 34 UH L. Rev. 611 (2012).
State Search and Seizure: The Original Meaning. 38 UH L. Rev. 63 (2016).
Agricultural "Market Touching": Modernizing Trespass to Chattels in Crop Contamination Cases. 38 UH L. Rev. 409 (2016).
Regulating Ridesharing Platforms Through Tort Law. 39 UH L. Rev. 357 (2017).
Case Notes
County fulfilled its duty of providing adequate warning of extremely dangerous shorebreak present at beach park on date of accident. 122 F. Supp. 2d 1140 (2000).
Plaintiff's claims of neglect, abuse, and failure to provide a safe home against care home defendants did not constitute "medical torts" within the meaning of 671-1; thus, plaintiff was not required to submit plaintiff's claims to a medical claims conciliation panel (MCCP) pursuant to 671-12 and 671-16 as a condition for plaintiff to file suit against defendants, and the circuit court erred in dismissing plaintiff's suit based on plaintiff's failure to submit plaintiff's claims to a MCCP. 128 H. 405 (App.), 289 P.3d 1041 (2012).
