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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I ---o0o--JADE WEMPLE, a minor, by her Next Friend, CHARLES H.Y. DANG, Petitioner-Plaintiff-Appellant/Cross-Appellee, and DAWN WEMPLE, Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellee, vs. DEAN A. DAHMAN; ASSOCIATION OF APARTMENT OWNERS OF SUMMER VILLA; and FIDELITY MANAGEMENT, INC., Respondents-DefendantsAppellees/Cross-Appellees, and RICHARD T. YOSHIDA and MAY H. YOSHIDA, Respondents-Defendants-Appellees/Cross-Appellants, and JOHN DOES 2-10; DOE CORPORATIONS 2-10; DOE PARTNERSHIPS 1-10; DOE GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES 1-10; and DOE UNINCORPORATED ASSOCIATIONS 1-10, Defendants and ASSOCIATION OF APARTMENT OWNERS OF SUMMER VILLA; and FIDELITY MANAGEMENT, INC., Respondents-Third-Party PlaintiffsAppellees/Cross-Appellees, vs. KIM MAU; GORDON F. LIU and ANNETTE K. LIU, individually and as Trustees of the Gordon F. Liu and Annette K. Liu Trust dated June 10, 1992, HIDEO YOKOTA, and KIYOKO YOKOTA, RespondentsThird-Party Defendants-Appellees/Cross-Appellees. NO. 21497 CERTIORARI TO THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS (CIV. NO. 92-1652)

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JANUARY 30, 2004 MOON, C.J., LEVINSON, NAKAYAMA, ACOBA, AND DUFFY, JJ. OPINION OF THE COURT BY DUFFY, J. Plaintiff-Appellant/Cross-Appellee Jade Wemple applied for a writ of certiorari to review the published opinion of the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) in Wemple ex rel. Dang v. Dahman, 102 Hawai#i 27, 72 P.3d 499 (App. 2002) [hereinafter, the ICA's opinion or Wemple I]. The ICA's opinion affirmed the

judgment of the first circuit court1 granting the defendants' motion for summary judgment.2 Based on the following, we hold that the circuit court and the ICA erred in granting and upholding defendants' motion for summary judgment because there are genuine issues of material fact which should have been left to the jury.

1

The Honorable Dan T. Kochi, presiding.

Defendants Association of Apartment Owners of Summer Villa [hereinafter, AOAO] and Fidelity Management, Inc., moved for summary judgment; their motion was joined by third-party defendants Hideo and Kiyoko Yokota; defendants and third-party defendants Kim Mau, Gordon Liu, and Annette Liu; and partially by defendants Richard Yoshida and May Yoshida (joining the motion inasmuch as the Yoshidas also wished to be dismissed from the case, but opposing the motion to the extent that the court would dismiss AOAO and Fidelity but not the Yoshidas). In August 1997, all parties filed a stipulation of dismissal against Dahman; this stipulation was in addition to the Plaintiffs' stipulation of dismissal against Dahman filed on October 31, 1996.

2

2

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I. A. Case Overview This is a negligence case arising from a pedestrianvehicle collision on October 23, 1991. Jade Wemple, then seven BACKGROUND

years old, ran out from behind a parked car onto a privately owned road adjacent to the Summer Villa Condominium [hereinafter, "SV"] and was struck by a pick-up truck driven by Dean Dahman. Wemple was seriously injured, and filed a lawsuit (by her next friend, Charles H.Y. Dang) together with her mother, Dawn Wemple [hereinafter collectively, the Plaintiffs], against: (1) Dahman,

the driver; (2) AOAO; (3) Fidelity Management, Inc. [hereinafter, Fidelity], AOAO's property manager at the time of the accident; and (4) Richard T. Yoshida and May H. Yoshida, (the Yoshidas), Hideo Yokota and Kiyoko Yokota (the Yokotas), Kim Mau, and Gordon F. Liu and Annette K. Liu (the Lius), owners of properties abutting or located in the vicinity of the privately owned road. Hereinafter, all defendants will be collectively referred to as "Defendants," and all defendant property owners -- that is, all defendants except Dahman

Download Wemple v. Dahman. ICA Opinion, filed 06/03/2002.pdf

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