Case Results
Car Accidents
- Maui Cafeteria and Airlines Ramp Worker – $250,000 policy limit settlement for a woman who suffered a non-displaced hip fracture.
- Tennessee Bank Executive – $120,000 settlement, on liability and UIM policies, for internal injuries suffered in broadside collision when the at-fault driver ran a stop sign. My client’s internal injuries eventually required surgery following one year of unsuccessful conservative therapies.
- Maui Licensed Massage Therapist – $38,500 settlement, on liability and UIM policies, for multiple muscle strain injuries, bruises, other soft tissue injuries and chemical burns from an air bag.
- Hawaii Island Nurse Supervisor and Her Three Children – $375,000 settlement, for a liability limit and UIM coverages stacked on two cars. Mom suffered neck and back strains which resolved over time and permanent injuries to her right foot.
- Stanford Medical Center Pediatric Cardiologist – $180,000 for injuries to hand and low back.
- Missouri Federal Police Officer and Homemaker – $125,000 settlement, on a liability policy limit split with a second accident victim and on two separate UIM policies, for injuries to a knee and a shoulder.
Wrongful Death
- Maui School Teacher – $1.1 million jury verdict for a married school teacher with four adult children. Client was a motorist on Kihei Road who was struck by a rock that was wedged in the dual tires of a large truck leaving a construction site.
- Thirteen Year Old Youth – $850,000 settlement, of limits of one liability policy and four UIM policies, for a Waimanalo youth ejected from a car that was broadsided by a vehicle engaged in a road race.
- Oahu School Teacher – $850,000 settlement, of limits of one liability policy and one UIM policy, for a passenger in a van struck by a racing car on H-1 freeway.
- Military Retiree – $75,000 settlement, of limits of one liability policy and two UIM policies, for fatal injuries suffered by a disabled US Army retiree struck in a crosswalk on Fort Weaver Road in Ewa Beach by a driver whose license was suspended.
Pedestrian Accidents
- Maui Homemaker – $1.1 million, policy limit arbitration award, for a homemaker struck at night in the roadway fronting her home in Haiku who suffered multiple fractures and a head injury.
- Twelve Year Old Student – $500,000 arbitration award for mild traumatic brain injury resulting in learning deficits.
Motorcycle Accidents
- Maui Archaeologist – $1.3 million settlement for pelvic fractures suffered in an intersection collision caused by an unlicensed 15 year-old driver.
- California College Student – $35,000 policy limit settlement for a passenger ejected onto the highway who suffered road rash and keloid scarring.
Truck Accident
- Hawaii Island Truck Driver – $86,000 settlement, on two liability policy limits split among three accident victims plus two UIM policy limits, for 2 fractured ribs, a fractured lumbar vertebra, a dislocated collar bone and bruised kidneys.
Moped Accidents
- Kaimuki Clerical Worker – $4,500 settlement for bruises and road rash injuries he suffered in an intersection collision when the at-fault driver ran the stop sign.
- Hotel Worker -$1,500 for road rash injuries caused by unknown hit and run driver.
Fall Accident
- Kauai Carpenter – $225,000 settlement for lumbar and ankle fractures caused by negligent homeowner who tampered with a 12 foot high scaffold.
Uninsured Motorist Settlement – Auto Policy Reformation
- Oahu High School Teacher – $115,000 in five policy limit settlements on three different UM policies for ulnar fracture caused by an uninsured motorist. The last of the three UM settlements required forcing the insurance company to rewrite an auto policy that yielded $60,000 – $20,000 in UM policy limits multiplied by three vehicles, despite an earlier written rejection of UM coverage. See Hawaii Auto Accident Law Basics for an explanation of how UM/UIM benefits and stacking can be automatically added to your auto coverages.
Hawaii Appellate Court Cases
Colonial Penn Ins. Co. v. First Ins. Co. of Hawaii – Establishing that an individual injured at a gas station may be entitled to dual coverage under two separate auto policies – first, as an occupant maintaining her own insured vehicle and, second, as a pedestrian as to the other involved vehicle.
Fortune v. Wong – Establishing the enforceability of an exclusion for auto accidents under homeowner liability policy.
Watson v. Brown – Summary judgment against commercial landlord for unfair and deceptive trade practices reversed in wrongful eviction case.
Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. Dennison – Addressing the existence of a separate and independent claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress for father coming onto the scene of an auto accident in which his son was severely injured.
Melo and Roy v. AIG – Addressing limitations on subrogation rights of underinsured motorist carrier, superseded by Granger v. GEICO. The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that if a UIM insurance carrier refuses to consent to a liability settlement offer, it must advance the amount offered in the liability settlement and allow the UIM claim for proceed.
Callender v. Baldwin – Addressing the elements of res judicata in summary judgment proceeding in the foreclosure of real property.