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Kamaunu v. Kaaea3/28/2002
This appeal stems from a judgment entered by the Circuit Court of the Second Circuit (the circuit court), following a trial denovo requested by Defendant-Appellant Garth Kaaea (Defendant) after an arbitrator appointed under the Court Annexed Arbitration Program (CAAP) rendered an award in favor of Plaintiff-Appellee Benjamin Kamaunu (Plaintiff).
Defendant contends that the circuit court: (1) abused its discretion when it ordered default to be entered against him on the issue of liability, as a sanction for not offering a monetary settlement to Plaintiff (default liability sanction); (2) wrongly used the CAAP arbitrator's award to apportion Defendant's negligence liability (apportionment sanction); (3) improperly deprived him of a jury determination as to Plaintiff's contributory negligence under Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 663-31 (1993); (4) erred in allowing Dr. James Ferrier (Dr. Ferrier), an orthopedic surgeon who treated Plaintiff in the emergency room at Maui Memorial Hospital, to testify at trial regarding Plaintiff's medical expenses because Plaintiff's "answers to interrogatories had not been seasonably supplemented with expert disclosures as required by [Hawaii Rules of Civil Procedure (HRCP)] Rule 26(e)"; and (5) erred in denying his motion for a directed verdict, since Plaintiff failed to meet his burden of proving, through expert testimony, that his medical-rehabilitative expenses were reasonable and necessary and met the tort threshold requirements of HRS § 431:10C-306 (Supp. 1998).
We agree with Defendant's first three contentions. Accordingly, we vacate the judgment and orders which prompted this appeal and remand this case for a new trial. We reject Defendant's fourth contention because the state of the record on appeal precludes us from determining its merits. As to Defendant's final contention, the record indicates that the circuit court's denial of Defendant's motion for directed verdict was premised partly on the circuit court's ruling that Plaintiff did not need to establish the reasonableness and necessity of his medical-rehabilitative expenses since the circuit court's order entering default against Defendant on the liability issue was determinative of that issue. In light of our vacature of the order of default, we vacate the circuit court's order denying directed verdict.
BACKGROUND
At about 10 o'clock on the evening of June 20, 1997, Plaintiff walked to the middle of Kamehameha Avenue in Kahului, Maui, leaned over to pick up a quarter he thought he had seen, and was struck by a motor vehicle operated by Defendant. Plaintiff does not recall checking for cars prior to venturing onto the road, and he admits that he was intoxicated and wearing dark clothing at the time.
Although Defendant saw Plaintiff immediately prior to the impact, Defendant admits that he did not sound the horn of his vehicle. Instead, he swerved the vehicle to the left to avoid hitting Plaintiff and did not step on the brakes until after the impact. Although it is unclear whether there were any street lights in the vicinity, it is undisputed that the headlights on Defendant's vehicle were operational at the time.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
On September 8, 1997, Plaintiff filed a complaint in the circuit court, alleging that "Defendant was negligent and careless in the operation of his motor vehicle" and seeking damages for the personal injuries sustained by Plaintiff as a result of the collision. Defendant's answer and demand for jury trial were filed on November 20, 1997, and on March 16, 1998, a CAAP arbitrator was apparently appointed to arbitrate the case.
On July 20, 1998, the circuit court filed a Notice of Trial
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