Taylor-Rice V. State

Following a bench trial in the fifth circuit court, defendant-appellant State of Hawaii (the State) was found jointly and severally liable for damages resulting from a single-car accident that occurred when defendant Kenneth Richard Leigh drove his car off Kuhio Highway on Kaua'i, striking the buried end of a guardrail and vaulting into a utility pole. The accident resulted in the death of two passengers, Alexa Dawn Taylor (Alexa) and Darlene T.K. Blasie (Darlene) and caused serious injury to a third passenger, plaintiff-appellee Rudolphus Verdoorn. Plaintiff-appellant Debbie Taylor-Rice, individually and as special administrator of Alexa's estate, plaintiff-appellee Edward J. Blasie, Sr., individually and as special administrator of Darlene's estate, plaintiff Carol K. Blasie, *fn1 and Verdoorn [hereinafter, collectively, the Plaintiffs] brought separate actions against the State, Leigh, and others. *fn2 Leigh defaulted, and the cases were subsequently consolidated and tried.