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Haw. Rev. Stat. § 480-13.5

Additional civil penalties for consumer frauds committed against elders

Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Hawaii ex rel. Louie v. HSBC Bank Nevada, N.A. (2014)

Most recently applied in Hawaii ex rel. Louie v. HSBC Bank Nevada, N.A. (August 2014)

L 1998, c 179, §1

How often courts cite this section

2012201410
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(a) If a person commits a violation under section 480-2 which is directed toward, targets, or injures an elder, a court, in addition to any other civil penalty, may impose a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each violation.

(b) In determining the amount, if any, of civil penalty under subsection (a), the court shall consider the following:

(1) Whether the person's conduct was in wilful disregard of the rights of the elder;

(2) Whether the person knew or should have known that the person's conduct was directed toward or targeted an elder;

(3) Whether the elder was more vulnerable to the person's conduct than other consumers because of age, poor health, infirmity, impaired understanding, restricted mobility, or disability;

(4) The extent of injury, loss, or damages suffered by the elder; and

(5) Any other factors the court deems appropriate.

(c) As used in this chapter, "elder" means a consumer who is sixty-two years of age or older.

Official source: Hawaii State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Hawaii statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.