$11.4 Million Settlement for Pedestrian Left Quadriplegic at Defective Waipio Uka Crosswalk

On an April evening in 2015, a 38-year-old man stepped into the marked crosswalk at the corner of Waipio Uka and Lelepua Streets in Waipio, Oahu. No vehicles were visible when he left the curb. He crossed three of four lanes before a car struck him. He was paralyzed immediately and rendered quadriplegic, requiring lifelong care.

The driver, a 67-year-old woman with a clean record, told investigators she did not see him until the moment of impact. But Woodruff Soldner of Leavitt, Yamane and Soldner focused the case on what the city had failed to do before that moment.

In 2014, the city repaved Waipio Uka Street. Under a 2006 amendment to the Honolulu City Charter, a 2009 state law, and a 2012 city council policy, any road improvement project was required to trigger a complete-streets review: a checklist of pedestrian and bicycle safety measures to be considered before construction closed. The city skipped it. Workers restored the crosswalk exactly as it had been, with no upgraded signals, no improved sightlines, and no additional signage.

Soldner argued that omission was not an oversight but a pattern. The city had accepted legal obligations to build a more pedestrian-friendly road network and had systematically ignored them on project after project. When the city accepted responsibility for the accident, it confirmed what the evidence showed: a dangerous crossing that the city had a legal duty and a practical opportunity to fix, and chose not to.

In May 2018, the City of Honolulu settled for $11.4 million. Of that amount, $1.9 million came from the city treasury and the remainder from the city's insurance carrier. No appeal followed. The crosswalk at Waipio Uka and Lelepua remained unchanged after the settlement was announced.