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Crichfield v. Grand Wailea Company7/31/2000
ondition or activity on the land. Sen. Stand. Comm. Rep. No. 534, in 1969 Senate Journal, at 1075 (emphases added).
In the house of representatives, the Committee on the Judiciary reported in relevant part:
The purpose of this bill is to encourage owners of land to make land and water areas available to the public for recreational purposes by limiting their liability toward persons entering thereon for such purposes.
Enactment of this bill would relieve the owner of land of his duty of care to keep the premises safe for entry or use by others for recreational purposes. A person who uses such property for recreational purposes would not be given the status of an invitee or licensee, and hence the landowner would not be liable for injuries to such persons. This relief of liability is not unlimited as it does not apply to willful or malicious acts, or situations where a fee is charged for the use of the land or for injuries suffered by a house guest while on the owner's premises. Hse. Stand. Comm. Rep. No. 760, in 1969 House Journal, at 914.
Thus, the legislature enacted HRUS to encourage the recreational use of our state's resources by limiting landowners' liability to recreational users and, thereby, promoting the use and enjoyment of Hawaii's resources. Indeed, in amending HRUS in 1996, the legislature reaffirmed its original intent:
. . . The legislature finds that encouraging the public to engage in recreational activities makes for healthier citizens and allows everyone to enjoy Hawaii's natural resources. In 1969, when the legislature enacted chapter 520, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to encourage wider access to lands and waters for hunting, fishing, and other activities, the intent was to make access easier and limit landowners' liability. 1996 Haw. Sess. L. Act 151, ยง 1 at 328 (emphases added).
It follows from the foregoing that the "purpose" of HRUS is not only to encourage landowners to open up their lands for recreational purposes, but also to encourage the citizens of and visitors of Hawaii to use and enjoy its resources, as well as to engage in the recreational activities, which are so characteristic of Hawaii and directly related to those resources. To better achieve both goals, HRUS immunizes landowners from liability for personal injury arising out of the "use" of the owner's "land" for "recreational purposes" -- i.e., the recreational enjoyment of the natural resources that are an inextricable part of Hawaii's land and waters.
Accordingly, HRUS was not intended -- nor do we construe it -- to have created out of whole cloth a universal defense available to a commercial establishment such as Grand Wailea, which has opened its land to the public for commercial gain, against any and all liability for personal injury merely because there is a "recreational" component to the establishment's operation. Indeed, to hold otherwise, as urged by Grand Wailea, would eviscerate the well-settled duty that Grand Wailea, as a possessor of land, owes to all people, whether paying patrons of its hotel or not, who enter on and use Grand Wailea's land intending to further purposes that are not "recreational" within the meaning of HRUS. As this court recently reaffirmed:
he general rule with respect to all landowners is that " possessor of land, who knows or should have known of an unreasonable risk of harm posed to persons using the land, by a condition on the land, owes a duty to persons using the land to take reasonable steps to eliminate the unreasonable risk, or warn the users against it." Richardson v. Sport Shinko (Waikiki Corporation), 76 Hawaii 494, 503, 880 P.2d 169, 178 (1994) (quoting Corbett v. Association of
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