States With Caps on Wrongful Death Damages

By the FigureMyTax Editorial Team · How we calculate

Hawaii's wrongful death damages aren't simply "capped" or "uncapped" — the answer depends entirely on which category of loss is being claimed.

Loss of society: uncapped

Under HRS §663-8.5, loss of society, companionship, comfort, consortium, and protection — the core relational damages in most Hawaii wrongful death claims — are defined separately from "pain and suffering." Because HRS §663-8.7's cap applies specifically to pain and suffering, these relational damages fall outside the cap entirely.

Pain and suffering: still capped

If a beneficiary separately claims the decedent's own actual pain and suffering — distinct from the family's relational loss — that specific category remains subject to the $375,000 cap, the same limit that applies to a living plaintiff's claim.

A distinctive middle path nationally

Nationally, states take genuinely different approaches to wrongful death damages. Some fold the entire noneconomic recovery into the same cap that applies to severe personal injury generally. Others set an entirely separate wrongful-death-specific cap covering everything. Hawaii's split — uncapped loss of society, capped pain and suffering specifically — is a distinctive middle path that most families claiming only relational damages never actually run into.

This is general information, not legal advice, and the jurisdiction comparisons above are illustrative, not an exhaustive survey. Confirm the current rule with a licensed attorney.