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Hawaii does not have a special statute of limitations applicable to childhood sexual abuse. The general limitations period for injuries to the person is 2 years. H. S. § 657-7.
Tolling. Hawaii has a minority, insanity, and disability tolling statute which provides that actions can be brought within the applicable time allowed, i.e. 2 years, from the victim reaching the age of majority or from the removal of a disability. H. S. § 657-13. The disability, however, must have been in existence at the time the legal injury was first sustained. H.S.§ 657-14
Extension while criminal case is pending. If a criminal case has been prosecuted by authorities, the statute of limitations is suspending during the time that case is pending in the criminal court system. H. S. § 657-23
Hawaii also has a common law realization-discovery rule providing that claims may be filed within 2 years of the discovery of the injury and the realization of the relationship between the injury and the abuse. In Dunlea v. Dappen, 83 Hawaii 28, 924 P.2d 196 (1996), the Hawaii Supreme court applied the discovery rule to a childhood sexual abuse claim, stating:
we are persuaded by the reasoning of those courts that, having considered the application of either statutory or judicially created discovery rules to claims of CSA [childhood sexual abuse], have determined that the issue of when a plaintiff discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, that she or he was psychologically injured and that the injury was caused by CSA is a question of fact for the jury.
Id., at 34, 924 P.2d at 202.
Finally, actions against incarcerated perpetrators are tolled until the perpetrator's release from prison. H.S. §657-21.5
Resources: Hawaii Revised Statutes
Reviewed 08/25/2007. Copyright Susan K. Smith
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