Case Title: Kamalu v. Paren, Inc.

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: hawaii

Court: Hawaii Supreme Court

Date: 2006-01-23T00:00:00Z

Document:
+#% NOP FOR PUBLICATION *#*
No. 24671
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAI'I

DAVID KAMALU and ROXANNE KAMALU,
Plaintiffs,
and
STATE OF HAWAT'T,
befendant-Appellant /Cross~Appellee,

WY ee, |
IN

20%

PAREN, INC. d/b/a Park Engineering,
Defendant-Appellee/Cross-Appellant,

and

HAWAII GEOTECHNICAL GROUP, INC., d/b/a Walter Lum Associates,

Defendant Appellee.

sss

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT

(civ. No. 97-4959-12)

Moon, C.J., Levinson, Nakayama, and Acoba, JJ., and
in place of ‘Duffy, J., recused)

(By:
Circuit Judge Masuoka,
‘The defendant-appellant/cross-appellee the State of

Hawas't (hereinafter, “the State”) appeals from, and the
(hereinafter,

ppellee/cross-appellant ParEn, Inc.
~parEn”) cross-appeals from, the October 10, 2001 judgment of the

 

defendant:
circuit court of the first circuit, the Honorable Sabrina S.

McKenna presiding.
(1) finding that ParEn’s negligence in not responding

on appeal, the State contends that the circuit court
erred in:
injuries; (2) finding that the defendant-appellee Hawaii

“HGG”) was not negligent;

to the Louie memo was not a legal cause of the Plaintiffs’
(hereinafter,

Geotechnical Group, Inc.
‘** NOT FOR PUBLICATION ##*
and (3) concluding that ParEn and HGG (hereinafter, collectively,
“the Appellees”) had a right of contribution against the State.

In its cross-appeal, ParEn argues that the circuit
court erred in finding that ParEn was negligent.

Upon carefully reviewing the record and the briefs
submitted by the parties and having given due consideration to
the arguments advanced and the issues raised, we affirm the
circuit court’s Octeber 10, 2001 judgment for the following

(1) Legal cause is an indispensable element of
liability that requires more than the mere breach of a duty. See
Taylor-Rice v. State, $1 Hawai'i 60, 74, 979 P.2d 1086, 1100
(1999). Notwithstanding the circuit court's findings of fact
(FOFs) that “ParEn had an obligation and duty to respond to [the]
Louie[] [mjemo,” the circuit court’s determination that any
negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the
Plaintiffs’ injuries was not clearly erroneous.

(2) Inasmuch as the circuit court did not clearly err
in finding that the State, and not the Appellees, legally caused
the Plaintiffs’ injuries, this court will not second-guess the
circuit court's findings of fact as to whether ParEn and/or HGG
breached their duties of care, nor what those duties may have
been.

(3) Notwithstanding the State's, ParEn’s, and the
circuit court’s misplaced presupposition that the success of the
Appellees’ cross-claims depends upon the State’s liability for
contribution as a “joint tortfeasor{]” pursuant to HRS $§ 662-2,
#¢# NOT FOR PUBLICATION ***
663-10.5, -11, and -12 (1993), the State simply cannot be a
“joint tortfeasor” if it is the only tortfeasor. Consequently,
the real question is whether sovereign immunity bars the
Appellees, as subrogees of the Plaintiffs, from recovering
reimbursement from the State. The proposition that the
legislature intended to retain the State’s sovereign immunity
against @ subrogee in the absence of a direct tort claim finds
support in neither the plain language of HRS § 662-2 nor an
exhaustive review of its legislative history. See also Lyon &
Sons v, H.C, State Bd, of Educy, 76 S.£.2d 553, 959 (N.C. 1953)
(Your Legislature by enacting our Tort Claims Act has established
a policy which opens the door to tort claims based on
negligence. . . . If the State had desired to exclude the right
of subrogation, it would have written such exemption into the
Act.”). Therefore,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the judgment from which the
appeal is taken is affirmed.

DATED: Honolulu, Hawai'i, January 23, 2006.

 

On the briefs
Jeffrey .K. Sia, of
‘Ayabe Chong Nishimoto Sia
& Nakamura, for the
defendant-appellant/
cross-appellee
the State of Hawai'i

 

Steven K. Hisaka and
Frank K. Goto, Jr., for the
defendant-appellee/cross-appellant
ParEn, Inc. é/b/a Park Engineering

Randall K, Schmitt, of
McCorristen Mino Miller Mukai,
for the defendant-appell
Hawaii Geotechnical Group,

Inc. d/b/a Walter Lum Associates

 

 

3