Kealoha V. County Of Hawaii

Defendant-appellant County of Hawaii (County) appeals from the judgment entered against it following a jury trial in a negligence action brought by plaintiff-appellee  Jason Kealoha (Kealoha), an injured motorcyclist. On appeal, the County contends the trial court erred in denying its motions in limine to admit evidence that Kealoha had not been wearing a helmet at the time of the accident and that Kealoha did not have a license to operate a motorcycle. The trial court denied both motions on the grounds that: 1) in Hawaii there is no tort duty on the part of a motorcyclist to wear protective headgear; and 2) the probative value of the evidence that Kealoha had no motorcycle license was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice to him. Because we decline to recognize a tort duty on the part of motorcyclists to wear protective headgear, and because we agree with the trial court on the prejudicial effect of admitting the evidence that Kealoha did not have a motorcycle license, we affirm the trial court's denial of both of the County's motions.