No. 28076 (February 29, 2008)
Opinion [pdf]
OPINION OF THE COURT BY RECKTENWALD, C.J.
Plaintiff-Appellant Lilivau Liki (Liki) was injured when he was struck by an uninsured motor vehicle at a gas station. At the time of the accident, Liki was an employee of Defendant-Appellee M. Nakai Repair Service, Ltd. (M. Nakai), and he was cleaning a sump at the gas station as part of his job duties. M. Nakai had assigned a company truck to Liki, which Liki drove to the gas station on the morning of the accident. Liki parked the truck at the station, and was cleaning the sump using tool that he had transported in the truck when the uninsured motorist backed into him.
The truck was covered by a Business Auto Policy issued by Defendant-Appellee First Fire & Casualty Insurance of Hawaii, Inc. (First Insurance). The policy had an uninsured motorist (UM) endorsement, and Liki sought coverage under the endorsement. After First Insurance denied coverage, Liki filed a complaint for declaratory relief in the Circuit Court of the First Circuit (circuit court). First Insurance and M. Nakai (collectively Defendants) filed a motion for summary judgment, which the circuit court granted on the ground that Liki had an insufficient connection with the M. Nakai truck at the time of the accident to bring him within the scope of the policy's UM coverage. Liki now appeals from: (1) the final judgment entered on July 11, 2006 by the circuit court in favor of Defendants (Final Judgment), and (2) the order filed on July 11, 2006 granting Defendants' motion for summary judgment (Order).
This appeal requires us to apply the "chain of events" test adopted by the Hawai'i Supreme Court in Dawes v. First Ins. Co., of Hawai'i, Ltd., 77 Hawai'i 117, 132-33, 883 P.2d 38, 53-54 (1994). Applying that test here, we conclude that the circuit court erred in granting summary judgment to Defendants. Accordingly, we vacate the Final Judgment and Order, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. [footnotes omitted]
