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Electronically Filed Supreme Court SCWC-28473 15-DEC-2011 12:40 PM

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I ---o0o--MICHELE R. STEIGMAN, Petitioner-Plaintiff-Appellant, v. OUTRIGGER ENTERPRISES, INC., dba OHANA SURF HOTEL, Respondent-Defendant-Appellee. NO. SCWC-28473 CERTIORARI TO THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS (ICA NO. 28473; CIV. NO. 05-1-0274) DECEMBER 15, 2011 RECKTENWALD, C.J., NAKAYAMA AND DUFFY, JJ., AND CIRCUIT JUDGE WILSON, ASSIGNED BY REASON OF VACANCY; AND ACOBA, J., CONCURRING SEPARATELY OPINION OF THE COURT BY NAKAYAMA, J. Petitioner-Plaintiff-Appellant Michele R. Steigman brought this tort action to recover damages after suffering a slip-and-fall accident while she was a guest of RespondentDefendant-Appellee Outrigger Enterprises' Ohana Surf Hotel. case went to trial, and a jury found that Outrigger was not negligent.1
1

The

Steigman's appeal to the Intermediate Court of

The Honorable Victoria S. Marks presided.

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Appeals ("ICA") resulted in a Summary Disposition Order affirming the trial court's final judgment. Steigman's application for writ of certiorari presents a question of first impression, namely, whether Hawaii's comparative negligence statute nullifies the common law tort defense barring recovery for plaintiffs injured by known or obvious dangers. Prior to the legislative enactment of

comparative negligence, the courts of this state applied the rule of contributory negligence, and an injured plaintiff was denied recovery upon a showing that her negligence contributed to her own injury. Torres v. Northwest Engineering Co., 86 Hawai#i 383, Then, "[a]

399 n.8, 949 P.2d 1004, 1020 n.8 (Haw. App. 1997).

legislative perception of unfairness in the common law doctrine of contributory negligence led to the passage of our modified comparative negligence statute in 1969." Wong v. Hawaiian Scenic The

Tours, Ltd., 64 Haw. 401, 403-04, 642 P.2d 930, 932 (1982). statute, Hawai#i Revised Statutes (HRS)

Download Steigman v. Outrigger Enterprises, Inc.  Concurring Opinion by J. Acoba.pdf

Hawaii Law