$26 Million Settlement After Hawaii Left Safety Ramp Blocked Before Runaway Tow Truck Crash
Won by Davis Levin Livingston.
The State of Hawaii settled for $26 million with Jimmy Braddock, who suffered catastrophic and permanent brain injuries when a Pinky Tows flatbed lost its brakes on Likelike Highway in 2019 while the state had left the road's only runaway-truck ramp blocked and unrepaired for 46 days.
What happened
On the morning of June 12, 2019, Jimmy Braddock, then 31, was stopped at a red light on the Kahekili Highway onramp off Likelike Highway when a Pinky Tows flatbed hauling a refrigerated trailer came barreling down the Ko'olau mountain grade with failed brakes. The driver had no way to stop. The rig plowed through Braddock's Ford Fiesta and into nine other vehicles, triggering an 11-car pileup.
Of everyone involved, Braddock took the worst of it. Before the crash he had worked as a solar technician; after it, he could no longer walk, barely communicate, or care for himself. He sustained severe traumatic brain injuries and spinal damage that placed him entirely in the hands of around-the-clock attendants, a condition his doctors described as permanent.
The central liability question was not the brake failure itself but what the state knew and failed to fix. Likelike Highway has a single runaway-truck ramp built for exactly this scenario: a vehicle losing brake control on the steep Ko'olau descent. On April 27, 2019, a separate vehicle struck and damaged the ramp's cable-restraint system. The Hawaii Department of Transportation then posted barricades at the ramp entrance and left them there for 46 days without making repairs. According to the legal team, a temporary sand-barrel fix could have been installed in a single day.
When the Pinky Tows driver felt her brakes give out on June 12, she aimed for the ramp. The barricades were still there.
Davis Levin Livingston attorney Chase Livingston pursued the state's liability for negligent maintenance of a safety-critical stretch of highway, arguing that the Department of Transportation had both notice of the damage and ample time to act. The case was scheduled for trial in April 2023 but settled beforehand. The State of Hawaii agreed to pay $26 million: $17 million from state general funds and $9 million from state excess-insurance carriers. Separately, Pinky Tows and its driver each settled at their respective policy limits of $300,000. The $26 million state payment to Braddock is believed to be the largest settlement between Hawaii and a single plaintiff.
No reduction on appeal was reported.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.