A federal judge recently refused to dismiss a negligence case against a Hawai’i hotel and related travel agency due to a tragic near drowning incident. Song Meyong He became severely incapacitated following injuries she incurred when she almost drowned in a Maui Royal Lahaina hotel pool. The complaint, filed on behalf of He’s husband and children, claims that the sign stating there was no lifeguard on duty was insufficient to warn of the real risks of swimming in the pool with no lifeguard on duty.

In addition to a standard of reasonable care, the judge held that, “Hawai’i courts recognize that a hotel [also] has a ‘special relationship’ with its guests [...] to protect the latter against unreasonable risk of physical harm.”

Additionally, although the sign was posted, “[t]he court cannot conclude, as a matter of law, that defendant [hotel] should not have had reason to expect its guests to encounter the danger of drowning without a lifeguard present, even if the danger was known and obvious.”

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