I. Introduction
This is a civil action due to an incident involving a park ranger and UH graduate engineer and his friends at Hawaii State park. The main party being held liable in this civil suit is the UH graduate engineer. Defendant Michael Nishimoto (“Defendant” or “Michael”) argues that this is nothing more than an unfortunate campfire event that accidentally injured Lehua Ching (“Plaintiff” or “Mrs. Ching”), park ranger in her line of duty and he should not be held liable. Also, Defendant argues that Mrs. Ching is a professional rescuer and is barred by the Firefighter rule to seek recovery.
Plaintiff Lehua Ching, is a park ranger for Kualoa State Park located in Kaneohe, Hawaii for 7 years. She has a bachelor’s degree in forestry and …show more content…
Pang, 72 Haw. 191, 811 P.2d 821 (1991). In Pang, Michael Thomas and other fire fighters responded to an alarm at the early hours of morning on January 6, 1986. Pang, 72 Haw. 191 at 811. This burning building owned by Pang was in the process of being demolished at the time the fire had occurred. They went to put out the fire at 425 North King Street, in downtown Honolulu. Pang, 72 Haw. 191 at 811. While they were extinguishing the fire, a portion of the burning building collapsed on Thomas and caused a compound fracture on his right arm. He filed a lawsuit against Pang alleging Pang’s “negligence in failing to adequately maintain and secure the building was the proximate cause of his injury”. The Hawaii Supreme Court adopted the fire fighter’s rule based on consideration of public policy. Michael Nishimoto is affirming this same defense against Mrs. Ching and trying to convince the court that as a park ranger she is a professional fire fighter like Thomas in the Pang case and that the firefighter rule should apply and the consideration of public …show more content…
She’s trained in fire safety and maintaining the park, providing education to the park visitors, and administering first aid. It must be noted that her training is of a limited and basic level. She is not specially trained to rescue other in dangerous emergencies or situations. And she is not trained in putting out fires larger than 5 feet or fires that deal with explosives or any gun powder. The service that she provides to the public in maintaining the state park, is making sure those who are on park grounds are compliant in following the park rules, and putting out small fires on occasion to prevent mass wildfire of the park forests. She is not trained in the same way or manner as a Firefighter and does not share their same responsibilities of expected level of danger for public service. Mrs. Ching is not a professional rescuer or even close in comparison to the job duties that emergency medical technician or firefighter are
This is a civil action due to an incident involving a park ranger and UH graduate engineer and his friends at Hawaii State park. The main party being held liable in this civil suit is the UH graduate engineer. Defendant Michael Nishimoto (“Defendant” or “Michael”) argues that this is nothing more than an unfortunate campfire event that accidentally injured Lehua Ching (“Plaintiff” or “Mrs. Ching”), park ranger in her line of duty and he should not be held liable. Also, Defendant argues that Mrs. Ching is a professional rescuer and is barred by the Firefighter rule to seek recovery.
Plaintiff Lehua Ching, is a park ranger for Kualoa State Park located in Kaneohe, Hawaii for 7 years. She has a bachelor’s degree in forestry and …show more content…
Pang, 72 Haw. 191, 811 P.2d 821 (1991). In Pang, Michael Thomas and other fire fighters responded to an alarm at the early hours of morning on January 6, 1986. Pang, 72 Haw. 191 at 811. This burning building owned by Pang was in the process of being demolished at the time the fire had occurred. They went to put out the fire at 425 North King Street, in downtown Honolulu. Pang, 72 Haw. 191 at 811. While they were extinguishing the fire, a portion of the burning building collapsed on Thomas and caused a compound fracture on his right arm. He filed a lawsuit against Pang alleging Pang’s “negligence in failing to adequately maintain and secure the building was the proximate cause of his injury”. The Hawaii Supreme Court adopted the fire fighter’s rule based on consideration of public policy. Michael Nishimoto is affirming this same defense against Mrs. Ching and trying to convince the court that as a park ranger she is a professional fire fighter like Thomas in the Pang case and that the firefighter rule should apply and the consideration of public …show more content…
She’s trained in fire safety and maintaining the park, providing education to the park visitors, and administering first aid. It must be noted that her training is of a limited and basic level. She is not specially trained to rescue other in dangerous emergencies or situations. And she is not trained in putting out fires larger than 5 feet or fires that deal with explosives or any gun powder. The service that she provides to the public in maintaining the state park, is making sure those who are on park grounds are compliant in following the park rules, and putting out small fires on occasion to prevent mass wildfire of the park forests. She is not trained in the same way or manner as a Firefighter and does not share their same responsibilities of expected level of danger for public service. Mrs. Ching is not a professional rescuer or even close in comparison to the job duties that emergency medical technician or firefighter are