A genuinely unusual position among states
Most states impose a notice deadline for claims against a government entity that's dramatically shorter than the general personal injury statute of limitations — often six months, sometimes a year, occasionally even less. Hawaii is a genuine exception to this pattern: claims against Hawaii government entities generally follow the same two-year rule that applies to any other personal injury claim in the state.
There used to be a shorter deadline
This wasn't always the case. Hawaii previously had a statute, ยง46-72, that gave people injured by county conduct only six months to file a claim — while people injured by the state itself, under a separate provision, had the full two years everyone else gets.
Struck down as unconstitutional in 2007
In a 2007 ruling, 115 H. 1, 165 P.3d 247, the Hawaii Supreme Court found there was no rational basis to support this disparate treatment — treating a county-caused injury so differently from a state-caused injury, with such a dramatically shorter window, violated the equal protection clause of the Hawaii Constitution, Article I, § 5. The six-month county deadline was struck down as unconstitutional.
What this means in practice today
The practical result is that someone injured by a Hawaii county, much like someone injured by the state itself or by a private individual, generally has the same two-year window under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657-7 to bring a claim. This is a genuinely distinctive feature of Hawaii law — the kind of government-claims trap that catches people off guard in most other states simply doesn't exist here in the same form.
Still worth confirming the specifics
While the core statute of limitations doesn't shrink for a government claim in Hawaii the way it does elsewhere, other procedural requirements can still exist depending on the specific government entity and the circumstances of the claim. Confirming exactly what applies to a specific situation with a licensed Hawaii attorney remains worthwhile, even without the shortened deadline most other states impose.