HI: Supreme Court Adopts Punitive Damages Standard from R(3): Remedies

In Guieb v. Guieb, 571 P.3d 382 (Haw. 2025), the Hawaii Supreme Court adopted the punitive damages standard in draft section 39 of the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Remedies. It held “in order to recover punitive damages, a plaintiff had to establish recoverable tort liability and to establish by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant intended to harm the plaintiff or others, recklessly disregarded a substantial risk of harm to the plaintiff or others, or otherwise acted in an outrageous or malicious manner.” The ALI website elaborates: “The court explained that the new standard, which shed outdated mental-state concepts, complemented the revised definitions for ‘intent’ and ‘recklessness’ in Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm §§ 1 and 2, and adopted those definitions as well.” The ALI has further details.