The summary provided below is general information only and is not intended to be used as legal advice. This information may not be relied on for any reason and may not be current or accurate. If you wish an exact statement of the current law in Hawaii on the subjects covered please call Poelman & Langa at 808-242-7222.
Trial level courts in Hawaii are called Circuit Courts. There are 4 judicial circuits in Hawaii. Honolulu is the site of the 1st Circuit which has jurisdiction over the Island of Oahu. Wailuku is the site of the 2nd Circuit which has jurisdiction over Islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai. The 3rd Circuit is in Hilo and has jurisdiction over the Big Island of Hawaii which at one time also had the 4th Circuit in Kona. The 4th Circuit no longer exists. The 5th Circuit is in Lihue and has jurisdiction over the Island of Kauai.
The islands other than Oahu are called the Neighbor Islands. Shuttle plane service between the islands is routine with flights generally departing every half hour and lasting less than a half hour. As a result most litigation firms in Hawaii have a statewide practice.
The Court Annexed Arbitration Program (CAAP) diverts tort cases having a projected value of $150,000 or less into an arbitration system utilizing a single court appointed lawyer. CAAP has its own set of rules of procedure and is subject to de novo trial on appeal to the Circuit Court. Penalties, including limited attorney fees and broader cost reimbursement for the prevailing party, are imposed upon the party who does not improve its position by 30% on appeal.
Rules of Procedure
Hawaii in 1953 adopted as the Hawaii Rules of Civil Procedure the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as they were then in effect. Since then Hawaii's amendments have not precisely tracked the Federal amendments.
There is a dirth of appellate case law here on procedure when compared to some of the more populated mainland states. However, Wright & Miller's treatise Civil Practice and Procedure is relied upon very heavily by the Hawaii Courts so that the outcome of procedural issues can be reasonably well predicted.
The Rules of the Circuit Courts provide many additional rules of procedure. The most significant of these is Rule 12 which requires the filing of a pretrial statement within 1 year of the filing of the complaint with the penalty for non-compliance being dismissal. Actions so dismissed can be reinstated upon a showing of good cause for non-compliance but the appellate courts have upheld refusals to reinstate.
Time to Trial and Final Resolution
Cases typically reach trial within 2 to 3 years of filing. Trials tend to be more lengthy than in the Eastern U. S. and it is not unusual for a trial to take several weeks or even several months to complete.
The Neighbor Island dockets are not divided and as criminal cases take precedence it can often be difficult to get a firm trial start date for civil cases.
The appellate court system includes an Intermediate Court Of Appeals that receives its cases by the choice of the Supreme Court. There is a substantial backlog of cases on appeal. The most recent decisions involve review of trial court rulings made a little over 3 years ago some appeals have been pending even longer.
Hawaii's Rules of Evidence are legislatively codified in Chapter 626 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes. While there are some significant nuances to them, the rules do not depart radically from rules of evidence found in other states.
Chapter 657 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes contains most of the statutes of limitations. Generally speaking the limitations period for contract claims is 6 years and for non-motor vehicle torts it is 2 years. The courts in Hawaii tend to be very liberal when interpreting the limitations periods.
Construction and design defects cases are subject to a 2 year from accrual limitations period and a 10 year statute of repose. HRS §657-8.
The minimum period for adverse possession of real property in Hawaii is 20 years.
Medical torts are subject to a limitations period of 2 years from discovery with an overall limit of 6 years from the act giving rise to the cause of action subject to extension for non-disclosure and the mandatory arbitration type of proceeding known as the Medical Conciliation Claims Panel. HRS §671-12. Appeal results in a de novo trial as of right.
Motor vehicle accident cases are subject to a No-fault threshold statute found at HRS §431:10C-306 which requires review of annually changed administrative regulations to understand fully. The period of limitations for both insurance benefits and tort claims may be expanded through two years after a number of events listed in HRS §431:10C-315, including the last payment or exhaustion of no-fault benefits from the accident.
Judgments are presumed paid and discharged at the end of 10 years.
The limitations on causes arising in foreign jurisdictions is generally 4 years.
Jury response forms are distributed upon request to counsel along with computer generated lists of the pool of prospective jurors several days before trial. Open voir dire by counsel is typically permitted to last a sufficient time to carefully select from a panel that is usually a very good cross sectional representation of the community.
First Circuit jurors tend to be weighted with city dwellers whose characteristics and dispositions are much like mainland jurors from cities except that there is much greater cultural diversity and tolerance and there are significant cultural influences from the Pacific and Asia which must be appreciated if one is to be persuasive.
The Neighbor Island circuits draw jurors from what are mostly rural agricultural communities with world class resort facilities. The cultural influences peculiar to Hawaii tend to be even more significant with them.
Race relations in Hawaii are much like those elsewhere in the country, but we have a much larger mixed race population than anywhere else in the U. S., and there is no majority, only minorities.
Kamaaina are are those who are native to the Islands, that is native Hawaiians in the true sense. They include almost all of the racial categories. The term native Hawaiian is often misused for political purposes to refer to ethnic Hawaiians descended from Tahitian immigrants. Immigrants of the last half century are mostly from the mainland. They have become a significant portion of the population and tend to be predominantly from California.
The largest minority identifies itself as caucasian, having North American or European ancestry. People of Portuguese ancestry tend to identify separately from others of European ancestry and represent a significant portion of the population.
Nearly 28% of the population of the State identifies itself as having some Japanese ancestry. This segment of the population is mostly kamaaina, having lived in Hawaii for many generations, is very influential and tends to be very well represented in public service management positions and the professions.
About 20% of the population here identifies itself as of Philippine Island origin. They are overwhelmingly Catholic and generally have immigrated to Hawaii in the last few generations. Many of these families are bilingual. The Philippine languages most prevalent in Hawaii are Ilocano, Tagalog and Visayan.
Approximately 10% claim Polynesian ancestry, that is, they are descended from Tahitians who immigrated before Captain Cook discovered the islands. In recent years there has been a tendency among some of these to identify themselves as "Native Hawaiians" by analogy to "Native Americans" in politically correct parlance. Many Washington politicians and journalists have responded favorably to their appeals for federal money to match that given to Indians and Eskimos. The resulting controversy has had its impact on judicial processes.
There are also significant Chinese and Korean populations. South Pacific Islanders, principally Samoans, Tongans, and Fijians and make up about 2% of the population of the State. Persons of African ancestry make up a small percentage of the Oahu population and are almost not represented in the Neighbor Island populations.
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