§480-24 - Limitation of actions. - Hawaii Statutes

     §480-24  Limitation of actions.  (a)  Any action to enforce a cause of action arising under this chapter shall be barred unless commenced within four years after the cause of action accrues, except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) and section 480-22.  For the purpose of this section, a cause of action for a continuing violation is deemed to accrue at any time during the period of the violation.

     (b)  The following shall toll the time for commencement of actions by the State under this chapter if at any time:

     (1)  Any cause of action arising under this chapter accrues against any person, the person is out of the State, the action may be commenced within the terms respectively limited, after the return of the person into the State, and if, after the cause of action has accrued, the person departs from and resides out of the State, the time of the person's absence shall not be deemed or taken as any part of the time limited for the commencement of the action.

     (2)  Any cause of action arising under this chapter accrues against any person, the person has petitioned for relief under the bankruptcy code, the time during which the bankruptcy case is pending shall not be deemed or taken as any part of the time limited for the commencement of the action.

     (3)  Any cause of action arising under this chapter accrues against any person, there is a criminal action pending which arises out of the same occurrence, the time during which the criminal action is pending shall not be deemed or taken as any part of the time limited for the commencement of the action.  As used in this paragraph, a criminal action is pending until its final adjudication in the trial court. [L 1961, c 190, §22; Supp, §205A-22; HRS §480-24; am L 1989, c 230, §2]

 

Case Notes

 

  Relation back of counterclaim to date of complaint.  473 F. Supp. 1296.

  Plaintiffs may recover for §480-2 violations which occurred prior to four-year statute of limitations if they can prove fraudulent concealment; series of fly-drive arrangements constituted alleged continuing violation; section did not bar claims for fly-drives occurring less than four years prior to filing of action.  491 F. Supp. 1199.

  If State proved a continuing violation, it would be entitled to seek provable damages for the entire period of the continuing violation; this could include damages that might have occurred prior to the four years before suit was filed, if the continuing violation occurred during that period.  168 F. Supp. 2d 1180.

  Plaintiff's claim  under §480-2 failed, where the statute of limitations barred any unlawful business practice claim that occurred prior to the four-year limitation period and although the additional alleged occurrences would not be time-barred, plaintiff's asserted damages flowing from the violation were unrecoverable because they were speculative.  522 F. Supp. 2d 1272.