Hawaii Casualty Study Guide

Forty-one of the ninety-one scored questions on the Hawaii casualty exam are Hawaii law — 45%, the heaviest state-law weighting of any single line in the state, with sixty minutes on its own clock to answer them. Two subjects carry most of that: a no-fault auto system whose minimum limits changed this January, and a rating-factor ban with almost no equal in the country.

The minimum limits changed on 1 January 2026

Hawaii ran on 20/40/10 for decades. It does not any more.

As of 1 January 2026 the minimums are 40/80/20: $40,000 bodily injury liability per person, $80,000 per accident, $20,000 property damage. The Insurance Division’s own guidance explains that the previous minimums “had not kept pace with the rising costs of medical care and vehicle repairs,” and applies the new figures to all new and renewal policies with effective dates on or after 1 January 2026.

PIP did not change. It remains $10,000 per person.

No-fault, and the threshold for stepping outside it

Hawaii is a no-fault state: your own insurer pays your medical and rehabilitation costs regardless of fault, up to the PIP limit. You may sue in tort only past a threshold, and HRS § 431:10C-306 gives two routes through it.

The monetary route: PIP benefits incurred reaching $5,000.

The verbal route, available regardless of dollar amount: death; “significant permanent loss of use of a part or function of the body”; or “permanent and serious disfigurement” causing mental or emotional suffering.

Note also what the tort abolition does not touch: property damage claims are unaffected, and it gives no protection to a drunk driver or to intentional misconduct.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist — offered, not required

This is where candidates over-generalise. In Hawaii, UM and UIM are not mandatory coverages. Under HRS § 431:10C-301, the insurer must offer them, and the named insured may reject in writing. Once rejected, no further offer need accompany a renewal or replacement policy.

The underinsured rejection carries an extra formality: the insured must sign in a location adjacent to or directly below the offer, so the signature sits with the thing being declined.

The rating factors Hawaii forbids

HRS § 431:10C-207 is the most distinctive provision in Hawaii casualty law. No motor-vehicle standard or rating plan may be based, “in whole or in part, directly or indirectly,” upon:

race · creed · ethnic extraction · AGE · SEX · LENGTH OF DRIVING EXPERIENCE · CREDIT BUREAU RATING · MARITAL STATUS · physical handicap.

Read that list against what national study material teaches. Most states permit age and gender outright and permit credit-based insurance scores subject to restrictions. Hawaii bans all three, plus marital status and years of driving experience. And case law extends the prohibition beyond rating plans into underwriting standards.

When no insurer will write a driver voluntarily, the residual mechanism is the Hawaii Joint Underwriting Plan (§ 431:10C-407).

Cancellation — and Hawaii’s proof requirement

Auto cancellation requires 30 days’ written notice, or 20 days for nonpayment, with coverage continuing through the notice period (§ 431:10C-112). During the first 60 days of a new auto policy the insurer may cancel more freely; after that, statutory grounds only.

The Hawaii wrinkle is evidentiary: a cancellation or nonrenewal is not valid unless evidence of mailing is provided — for auto, a validated USPS certificate of mailing. An insurer that sent notice but cannot prove it has not cancelled anything.

Workers’ compensation — from the first employee

Hawaii requires coverage from one or more employees, full-time or part-time, from the first day of employment (HRS § 386-121). There is no small-employer grace period. The system is administered by the Disability Compensation Division of DLIR, not the Insurance Division.

Temporary total disability pays 66⅔% of the average weekly wage, capped annually — the 2026 maximum weekly benefit is $1,240.00. And the employer that cannot buy cover in the voluntary market has a statutory backstop: HEMIC, the Hawaii Employers’ Mutual Insurance Company, is required by § 431:14A-103(g) to cover employers “not able to or not electing to purchase coverage in the voluntary insurance market, and not authorized … to self-insure.”