REPORT TITLE:
Tort Liability; Haiku Stairs


DESCRIPTION:
Limits liability for government landowners of Haiku stairs;
amends definition of "land".

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2082
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO TORT LIABILITY.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Chapter 520, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
 2 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
 3 read as follows:
 
 4      "�520-     Haiku stairs; limited liability of government
 
 5 landowners.  (a)  In a claim alleging injury or loss on account
 
 6 of a hazardous condition on the Haiku stairs or associated access
 
 7 ways leading to Haiku stairs, a landowner shall be liable for
 
 8 damages for personal injury or death resulting from a person's
 
 9 climbing the Haiku stairs for a recreational purpose only when
 
10 the loss or injury is caused by a failure to warn against a
 
11 hazardous condition known or which should have been known, and
 
12 when the hazardous condition is not known to the person accessing
 
13 or climbing the Haiku stairs or would not have been known to a
 
14 reasonably prudent person.
 
15      (b)  For the purposes of this chapter and notwithstanding
 
16 ownership by any government entity, Haiku stairs means the
 
17 approximately 3,922 step stairway ascending the summit of the
 
18 Ko`olau mountain range, located in Haiku valley, and includes the
 
19 land on which trails lead to the top of the stairs, the land over
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 which the stairs ascend, and access ways thereto.
 
 2      (c)  Any person who climbs the Haiku stairs waives the right
 
 3 to pursue claims against government owners or non-profit groups
 
 4 or individuals associated with Haiku stairs for injury or harm
 
 5 that may occur as a result of an accidental injury or a response
 
 6 to an accidental injury that occurs while on the Haiku stairs
 
 7 where the activity is not supervised, guided, or managed by
 
 8 representatives of the landowners."
 
 9      SECTION 2.  Section 520-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
10 amended by amending the definition of "land" to read as follows:
 
11      ""Land" means land, roads, water, water courses, private
 
12 ways and buildings, structures, and machinery or equipment when
 
13 attached to realty, other than lands owned by the government[.],
 
14 except as provided in section 520-   ."
 
15      SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
16 New statutory material is underscored.
 
17      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
18 
 
19                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________