Filing a Car Accident Lawsuit in Hawaii

Getting hurt in a crash on Oahu, Maui, or the Big Island doesn't automatically give you a lawsuit to file. Hawaii runs a no-fault insurance system, and that system decides two things: whether you can sue the other driver at all, and how far your claim can go. Here is what actually governs a car accident case in Hawaii, with the statutes and numbers behind each rule.

You have two years, and the clock is strict

Under Haw. Rev. Stat. section 657-7, you have two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit.¹ The same statute puts property damage to your car on the same two-year clock, so there is one deadline to track, not two.¹ Miss it and the court will almost always dismiss the case, no matter how obvious the other driver's fault was. Claims involving a government vehicle or a county road hazard can carry shorter notice requirements, so if a public entity is in the picture, move early.

No-fault pays before anyone sues

Before a lawsuit is even on the table, your own insurer pays. Hawaii requires personal injury protection, or PIP, on every auto policy, with a minimum of $10,000 per person, and it covers your medical bills and lost earnings no matter who caused the crash.² Your insurer has to pay or deny a PIP claim in writing within 30 days after it receives reasonable proof of loss, and anything paid late carries interest at 1.5% per month.³ If an adjuster drags the process out, that 30-day rule and the interest penalty are real leverage.

When you can actually sue for pain and suffering

This is the part that catches people off guard. Because Hawaii is a no-fault state, you cannot sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering unless your injury clears a threshold set by Haw. Rev. Stat. section 431:10C-306.² You cross it if any one of these is true:

your PIP benefits incurred reach or exceed $5,000, or
the crash causes death, significant permanent loss of use of a part or function of the body, or permanent and serious disfigurement.²

Clear the threshold and the no-fault bar lifts, so you can bring a full injury claim against the driver who hit you, pain and suffering included. Stay below it and your recovery is limited to what the PIP system pays. Because the $5,000 figure counts medical costs, deductibles, and copayments, serious injuries reach it quickly, while minor ones may never get there.

How your own fault cuts the check

Hawaii follows modified comparative negligence. Under Haw. Rev. Stat. section 663-31, being partly to blame doesn't end your case, but your damages are reduced by your share of fault, and you're barred completely once your negligence is greater than the other side's.⁴ Put simply, at 50% fault you still collect half of your damages; at 51% you collect nothing. Expect the other insurer to argue your percentage up, because every point it pins on you is a point off what it owes.

What you can recover, and the cap that doesn't apply here

Hawaii has a $375,000 cap on pain-and-suffering damages under Haw. Rev. Stat. section 663-8.7.⁵ The Hawaii-specific detail that works in your favor: that cap does not reach car accident cases. Section 663-8.7 carves out the tort actions listed in section 663-10.9(2), and motor vehicle accident torts are one of the listed categories.⁵⁶ So in an ordinary crash case, there is no statutory ceiling on your pain-and-suffering award. Your economic losses, like medical bills and lost income, are never capped either.

The insurance you're really up against

Almost every claim is paid by an insurance policy, so the coverage limits matter, and Hawaii just raised them. Effective January 1, 2026, Act 138 (2024) increased the minimum liability limits to $40,000 per person and $80,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $20,000 for property damage, up from the old 20/40/10.⁷⁸ That is only the legal floor. Plenty of drivers carry more, and plenty carry exactly the minimum, which is why serious injuries often outrun the at-fault driver's policy.

When that happens, your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is what's left. Hawaii does not force you to buy it. Insurers must offer UM/UIM up to your own bodily injury limits, but you can turn it down in writing, and once you sign that rejection, they don't have to keep offering it.⁷ It is worth pulling your own declarations page now, because after a crash with an underinsured driver, that coverage is frequently the only meaningful money on the table.

Drunk-driving crashes reach more pockets

If a drunk driver hit you, two Hawaii rules can widen who pays and raise the stakes. The first is dram shop liability. A bar or liquor licensee that serves someone already visibly intoxicated, or serves a minor, can be held liable to the people that driver later injures, because Haw. Rev. Stat. section 281-78 forbids serving liquor to a person under the influence.⁹ The Hawaii Supreme Court recognized that a third party injured by the drunk driver can recover from the vendor in Ono v. Applegate.⁹ The second is punitive damages. In Masaki v. General Motors Corp., the court held that punitive damages are available on clear and convincing evidence that a defendant acted wantonly or with conscious indifference to the consequences, the kind of conduct a drunk-driving crash can establish.¹⁰

Phones and other proof of fault

Fault is easier to prove when the other driver broke a specific rule. Hawaii bars holding a mobile device while driving under Haw. Rev. Stat. section 291C-137, and the fine is $300, or $400 in a school or construction zone. Drivers under 18 cannot use a device at all, even hands-free, except to call 911.¹¹ A citation like that becomes useful evidence that the other driver was negligent.

Getting your report and the right help

Hawaii has no statewide highway patrol, so your crash report comes from the county police department where the collision happened, whether that is Honolulu, Hawaii County, Maui, or Kauai.¹² Our Hawaii crash report guide covers how to request yours.

If your vehicle is worth less on the market even after a solid repair, that lost value is a separate claim from your injury case; the Hawaii diminished value guide walks through it. And once your injury clears the no-fault threshold and real money is in play, a local attorney who works with Hawaii's PIP rules every day is worth a conversation. You can start with the thatcarhitme.com legal directory.

This is general information about Hawaii law, not legal advice.

Sources

Hawaii Revised Statutes section 657-7, limitation of personal injury and property damage actions. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0657/HRS_0657-0007.htm
Hawaii Revised Statutes section 431:10C-306, abolition of tort liability and thresholds. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0306.htm
Hawaii Revised Statutes section 431:10C-304, payment of PIP benefits. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0304.htm
Hawaii Revised Statutes section 663-31, contributory negligence and comparative fault. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0031.htm
Hawaii Revised Statutes section 663-8.7, limit on noneconomic damages. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0008_0007.htm
Hawaii Revised Statutes section 663-10.9, tort actions excepted from the damages limitation. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0010_0009.htm
Hawaii Revised Statutes section 431:10C-301, required motor vehicle policy coverage and UM/UIM offers. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0301.htm
Hawaii Insurance Division, Commissioner's Memorandum 2024-2R, rate filings pursuant to 2024 Act 138. https://cca.hawaii.gov/ins/commissioners-memorandum-2024-2r-rate-filings-pursuant-to-2024-haw-sess-laws-act-138/
Hawaii Revised Statutes section 281-78 and Ono v. Applegate, 62 Haw. 131, 612 P.2d 533 (1980). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol05_Ch0261-0319/HRS0281/HRS_0281-0078.htm
Masaki v. General Motors Corp., 71 Haw. 1, 780 P.2d 566 (1989). https://law.justia.com/cases/hawaii/supreme-court/1989/13023-2.html
Hawaii Revised Statutes section 291C-137, mobile electronic devices while driving. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol05_ch0261-0319/HRS0291C/HRS_0291C-0137.htm
Honolulu Police Department, Police Reports. https://www.honolulupd.org/police-reports/