Comparative negligence rules in Hawaii

After a wreck, expect the other driver's insurer to claim you share the blame. Under Hawaii law that claim carries real weight. Your share of the fault comes straight out of your recovery, and if it climbs high enough, you collect nothing. Here's how the rule actually works and where the lines fall.

The 51 percent bar

Hawaii follows a modified comparative negligence rule set out in Haw. Rev. Stat. § 663-31. Being partly at fault no longer wipes out your claim the way it did before 1969, when the state replaced the old all-or-nothing contributory negligence rule.¹ You can still recover as long as your negligence "was not greater than" the negligence of the party you're suing.¹

The practical line sits at 50 percent. If you and the other driver are each 50 percent to blame, you can still recover, because your fault is not greater than theirs. Cross to 51 percent and the door closes. When your share is greater than the other side's, the court enters judgment for the defendant and you take nothing.¹

Below that line, your award shrinks by your percentage. The statute says damages are "diminished in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to" you.¹ Say a jury values your case at $100,000 and finds you 30 percent at fault. You collect $70,000. At 45 percent, you'd collect $55,000. At 51 percent, zero. The percentage is doing real work at every step, not just at the cutoff.

When more than one driver is at fault

Multi-car pileups change the math in your favor. Section 663-31 compares your negligence to the "aggregate negligence" of everyone you're suing, not to each defendant one at a time.¹

Suppose you're 40 percent at fault, Driver B is 35 percent, and Driver C is 25 percent. Measured against B alone, you'd be the more careless party and barred. But the statute stacks B and C together, and their combined 60 percent is greater than your 40 percent, so you recover, reduced by your 40 percent share.¹ The aggregate approach keeps you in the game in exactly the crashes where fault is most tangled.

Who decides your percentage

In a jury trial, the judge doesn't hand back a single number. Hawaii requires a special verdict that states two things: the total damages you'd get if you weren't at fault at all, and "the degree of negligence of each party, expressed as a percentage."¹ The court takes those percentages, reduces the award, and enters judgment.¹

Most cases never reach a jury. They settle, and the same rule drives the negotiation. An adjuster who thinks you were 25 percent responsible will knock roughly a quarter off the offer before talking numbers. That's why the fight over who did what, and the evidence behind it, matters long before anyone files suit.

Collecting when several people share the blame

Hawaii treats car crashes differently from most other injury cases when it comes to collecting a judgment. Section 663-10.9 abolished joint and several liability for many torts, but it kept full joint and several liability for "torts relating to motor vehicle accidents," covering both economic and noneconomic damages.²

In plain terms, if two other drivers are on the hook for your award, you can collect the whole thing from either one, even if that driver was the less blameworthy of the two. The driver who overpays then goes after the other for reimbursement. Hawaii's contribution statute gives joint tortfeasors that right, and when an equal split would be unfair, "the relative degrees of fault" decide each one's share.³ For you, the upside is that one underinsured defendant among several doesn't sink your recovery.

One carve-out matters. If your claim targets highway design or maintenance (a missing guardrail, a badly placed utility pole, a downed sign), joint and several liability for noneconomic damages applies only if you show the responsible party had "reasonable prior notice of a prior occurrence under similar circumstances."² Those government and utility claims run under tighter rules than a plain two-car collision.

Comparative negligence starts only after no-fault

There's a threshold question before fault ever enters the picture. Hawaii is a no-fault state, so your own personal injury protection coverage pays your early medical bills no matter who caused the crash, and your percentage of fault doesn't reduce those benefits.

You can only step outside no-fault and sue the other driver for pain and suffering once you meet one of the conditions in Haw. Rev. Stat. § 431:10C-306: death, "a significant permanent loss of use of a part or function of the body," a "permanent and serious disfigurement," or personal injury protection benefits that "equal or exceed $5,000."⁴ Comparative negligence governs that tort case. Until you clear the threshold, the fault fight is largely beside the point.

Deadlines, policy limits, and your percentage

Two more Hawaii numbers shape what comparative negligence is worth to you.

The clock is short. You have two years to file suit for injury or property damage, measured from when the claim accrues under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657-7.⁵ Miss it and your percentage of fault stops mattering, because there's no case left.

Policy limits set the ceiling. As of January 1, 2026, Hawaii's minimum liability coverage rose to $40,000 per person and $80,000 per accident for injuries, plus $20,000 for property damage, under Act 138 (2024).⁶ Even a case where you're zero percent at fault can only reach as far as the at-fault driver's policy, which is why uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage matters. Insurers must offer it up to your bodily injury limits, though you can turn it down in writing.⁶

None of this rewards waiting. Your percentage is built out of evidence that fades fast: the position of the cars, skid marks, witness memories, and the responding officer's account. Photograph the scene and get names from any witnesses. Pull the crash report once it's ready. If your vehicle is worth less after repairs, that's a separate diminished value claim on top of your injury case. And because the fault percentage often decides the whole thing, it's worth talking to a Hawaii attorney before you give a recorded statement or accept a first offer.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Hawaii Revised Statutes § 663-31, Contributory negligence no bar; comparative negligence; findings of fact and special verdicts. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0031.htm

2. Hawaii Revised Statutes § 663-10.9, Abolition of joint and several liability; exceptions. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0010_0009.htm

3. Hawaii Revised Statutes § 663-12, Right of contribution; accrual; pro rata share. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0012.htm

4. Hawaii Revised Statutes § 431:10C-306, Abolition of tort liability. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0306.htm

5. Hawaii Revised Statutes § 657-7, Damage to persons or property. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0657/HRS_0657-0007.htm

6. Hawaii Revised Statutes § 431:10C-301, Required motor vehicle policy coverage (as amended by 2024 Act 138). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0301.htm