Wrongful Death Claims in Honolulu and Across Hawaii

When a person in Hawaii dies because of someone else’s conduct, the family left behind carries losses of its own. Hawaii Revised Statutes §663-3 recognizes some of those losses and allows them to be claimed.

This page sets out what that statute says: who may bring a claim, how long they have, and what a court may award. It asks nothing of you today.

When Hawaii Law Allows a Wrongful Death Claim

HRS §663-3(a) applies when the death of a person is caused by the wrongful act, neglect, or default of any person. In that situation the statute permits an action against the person causing the death, or against the person responsible for the death.

“Wrongful” here does not mean criminal. It means what it means in any other Hawaii injury claim: a duty was owed, that duty was breached, and the breach caused the harm. The conduct is very often ordinary negligence — a driver who did not stop in time, a property owner who left a known hazard in place. Those elements are set out on the elements of a Hawaii personal injury claim.

Who May Bring a Claim, and on Whose Behalf

Under HRS §663-3(a), the claim may be maintained by the deceased person’s legal representative or by any of the persons the statute enumerates. Subsection (b) names them:

• The surviving spouse
• A reciprocal beneficiary, as defined in HRS chapter 572C
• The children
• The father and the mother
• Any person wholly or partly dependent upon the deceased person

The legal representative’s role here is narrow. The action is maintained on behalf of the persons enumerated in subsection (b), except that the legal representative may recover on behalf of the estate the reasonable expenses of the deceased’s last illness and burial.

Where more than one family member has a claim, HRS §663-3(b) directs the jury — or the court, sitting without a jury — to allocate the damages among the persons entitled to them. Those damages, other than the last illness and burial expenses, do not constitute a part of the estate of the deceased.

What Damages the Statute Allows

HRS §663-3(b) permits such damages as under the circumstances shall be deemed fair and just compensation, “with reference to the pecuniary injury and loss of love and affection,” and then lists what that includes:

• Loss of society, companionship, comfort, consortium, or protection;
• Loss of marital care, attention, advice, or counsel;
• Loss of care, attention, advice, or counsel of a reciprocal beneficiary as defined in chapter 572C;
• Loss of filial care or attention; or
• Loss of parental care, training, guidance, or education, suffered as a result of the death of the person.

Every category the statute names is relational rather than purely financial, and each belongs to the survivor rather than to the estate — which is why §663-3(b) asks that they be allocated individually.

A Wrongful Death Claim and a Survival Action Are Not the Same Thing

A single death can give rise to two separate claims, and they are frequently confused. The first is the wrongful death claim under HRS §663-3, described above, which belongs to the surviving family members for their own losses.

The second is a survival action under HRS §663-7, which provides that a cause of action arising out of a wrongful act, neglect, or default — except a cause of action for defamation or malicious prosecution — shall not be extinguished by reason of the death of the injured person. That cause of action survives in favor of the legal representative of the person, and any damages recovered form part of the estate of the deceased.

The survival action therefore carries forward the claim the deceased person already had, while the wrongful death claim addresses what the family lost.

The Deadline Runs From the Date of Death

HRS §663-3(b) closes with its own limitations period: any action brought under the section “shall be commenced within two years from the date of death of the injured person, except as otherwise provided.”

That starting point differs from Hawaii’s general injury statute. HRS §657-7 requires actions for the recovery of compensation for damage or injury to persons or property to be instituted within two years after the cause of action accrued. A death may follow the injury that caused it by weeks or by years, so the two provisions can point at different dates — and the statute’s own “except as otherwise provided” language signals that other provisions can change the calculation again.

Which deadline governs a particular family’s claim is the one part of it that cannot be repaired after the fact.

The Underlying Cause Shapes the Claim

Where a death follows a motor vehicle crash, Hawaii’s no-fault system matters. It abolishes tort liability for many motor vehicle injuries, but HRS §431:10C-306(b)(1) preserves it where death occurs in the accident. The rest of that system is covered on the page about Hawaii’s no-fault rules after a car accident.

Where a death follows medical treatment, a procedural gate applies first. Under HRS §671-12, an inquiry must be submitted to a Medical Inquiry and Conciliation Panel before suit may be commenced in any court of this State. That process, and the tolling it produces under HRS §671-18, is described on the page about Hawaii’s medical inquiry and conciliation panel requirement.

Frequently Asked Questions

If You Have Lost a Family Member

No legal claim repairs what has happened. What a claim can do is narrower: establish how the death occurred, and recover what the statute allows for the people Hawaii law recognizes as having lost something.

If you would like to know whether your family has a claim under HRS §663-3, or simply what the deadline is in your situation, you can speak with my Honolulu office and ask.