Judge: State at fault in hikers’ deaths

LIHU‘E — In December 2006, cousins Elizabeth Brem and Paula Ramirez headed up a hiking trail at Wailua River State Park during a special trip to the island.

Along the left leg of the split path, the women read a sign warning them to keep out, and so they chose the signless path to the right, said Brem family attorney Loretta Sheehan.

“They went down the right-hand (trail) and they fell off the edge of a cliff that was pretty obscured by heavy vegetation,” Sheehan said. “In essence (the state Department of Land and Natural Resources) created a trap for these women.”

Last week, Kaua‘i Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Watanabe agreed, finding the state 100 percent at fault for the death of the two hikers at Opaeka‘a Falls.

According to a press release from the law offices of Davis Levin Livingston of Honolulu, Watanabe concluded the state owed a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect or warn Brem and Ramirez against the “extreme and hidden dangers it knew existed within the Opaeka‘a Falls clearing and on the trails originated in that area.”

“The single warning sign posted in the entrance to the left-hand trail within the Opaeka‘a Falls clearing at the time of this tragedy was improperly placed and inadequate to perform its intended function to close off the area from public use,” the press release states, quoting Watanabe’s decision. “The Court concludes that the state impliedly invited Elizabeth Brem and Paula Ramirez to use the right-hand trail … and created a false appearance of safety with respect to such use. … This breach of due care was a legal cause of their deaths.”

Joshua Wisch, a spokesman for the state Department of the Attorney General, said his office received the decision Monday and was not prepared to comment.

“We’re still studying it,” Wisch said. “It’s a bit premature for us to say anything at this point.”

DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward had a similar response.

“We’re not going to comment on it because the case is not yet finished,” she said. “The attorneys are still reviewing the decision.”

Prior falls

Sheehan, who argued the case with fellow attorney Erin Davis on behalf of the Brem family, said the hikers weren’t the first to fall off the cliff, nor was DLNR completely unaware of the danger. In 2003, DLNR officer Kalani Addington had gone to the trail area and noticed people were hiking to the bottom of the falls.

“He realized this was a very dangerous situation,” Sheehan said, and he wrote a report for his supervisors.

They eventually sent a recommendation to the state parks division, asking to put up fencing, block the area and install warning signs. Instead, one sign went up — on the wrong side of the trail — which the women then followed, Sheehan argued.

“Elizabeth and Paula did exactly what the state of Hawai‘i told them to do and that’s what led them to their deaths,” the attorney said.

It would have cost DLNR virtually nothing, she contended, to look at the clearing, realize the sign wasn’t doing its job and put up proper signage and fencing material it already owned.

“This stuff is free and it’s incalculable in its value,” Sheehan said.

The kicker, she added, is that a teenage boy fell from the cliff about six months before Brem and Ramirez died. Had DLNR set up a liaison with the Kaua‘i Fire Department, officials would have been aware of that fall and might have taken steps to prevent further tragedies.

Teresa Tico, who represented the Ramirez family, said she eventually found the boy — Joshua Lineras of the San Francisco Bay Area — on Facebook. He later testified in the nine-day trial, stating that he’d been hiking with his family when he fell 150 to 200 feet.

“According to him, there was a false floor. He just fell without realizing there was a cliff,” Tico said. “It was a miracle that he survived.”

Brem and Ramirez were found below the ledge where firefighters rescued him.

Liability and damages

The case has been split into two trials. The first determined liability. The second, which is not yet scheduled, will decide damages.

Sheehan said she does not know how much the families will ask for, as that amount will likely be determined by experts who will have to assess the value of lost income, human loss and other factors. She noted that the state has a lot of insurance, so a settlement may be handled by an insurance company, instead of inside a courtroom.

“We expect the damages to be substantial,” Sheehan said.

Brem was a mergers and acquisition attorney in an Orange County firm. The 35-year-old left behind two sons and her husband, Monte, who have since moved out of the country, Sheehan said.

According to a letter to the editor in The Garden Island, Monte Brem said she’d been the daughter of an illegal immigrant from Colombia, who went on to graduate Yale Law School and become the only Hispanic woman partner at the largest law firm in California. She also sat on the Board of Directors of the California Coastal Conservancy, following her appointment by the Speaker of the California House of Representatives.

“Liz did not make a reckless move in her life,” Monte Brem wrote. “And although at times I find myself having a tendency to want to blame her, I realize that her character would not allow her to take on needless risks that could result in her leaving me and our boys alone.”

Ramirez, 29, worked at a bank in Colombia, had a boyfriend and always wanted children, Tico said.

“To have your life snatched away at such a young age is tragic,” Tico said.

Ramirez’ mother did not attend the trial, but plans to attend the second leg, Tico said. Monte Brem and Elizabeth’s parents sat through the proceedings, Sheehan said.

“The whole family, they felt a real sense of closure,” Sheehan said. “When they got the opinion they felt relieved that other people would be safe.”

Since the accident, DLNR has closed off the trail, the Brem family attorney said. Now, she hopes the department will start conducting risk assessments at its state parks and begin listening to its employees.

“That’s really why the family brought the lawsuit,” Sheehan said. “They were crushed in their grief and they wanted to make sure this didn’t happen again.”

Visit www.thegardenisland.com to read the complete decision by Judge Watanabe.

• Jessica Musicar, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or by e-mailing jmusicar@ thegardenisland.com.