Many Hawaii auto insurers may now face the prospect of class actions from medical providers and insureds for wrongful denials of treatment and non-payment of medical bills. Many Hawaii PIP (no-fault) insurers have been unilaterally picking known insurance company doctors on auto PIP cases (see the Hawaii IME -Independent Medical Experts - page for a list of some of Hawaii's known DME and insurance company doctors). These doctors are chosen knowing that they will say that a patient no longer needs medical care. The insurers then cut off the patient from further care and the treating doctor from payments for such care (sometimes retroactively). Two Hawaii Circuit Court Judges have found that such practices violate H.R.S. 431:10C-308.5, which requires that a medical reviewer (so-called IME doctor) be chosen by agreement or by a neutral forum in PIP cases. Judge Ayabe and Judge McKenna in First Circuit Court have both granted motions for summary judgment finding that denials based upon medical experts unilaterally chosen by the insurer were improper and invalid.
Being a passenger in a car driven by a bad driver can be fatal. Honolulu's 22nd fatal car accident of 2025 involved a passenger who was ejected after the driver of their car lost control and crashed into a fence first and then into a guardrail on Kam Highway in the Mililani area. The passenger was ejected and killed. See, Fatal Car Accident in Mililani, Hawaii on April 12, 2025
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