Hawaii Reaches $15.4M Settlement in Hikers’ Deaths

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Hawaii will pay $15.4 million to settle a lawsuit involving two hikers who fell to their deaths on Kauai in 2006.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported the out-of-court settlement is subject to approval by the state Legislature.

Honolulu attorney Mark Davis represented the family of Elizabeth Ann Brem, an attorney who worked in Orange County, Calif. Davis says the Brem family will receive $15 million.

Kauai lawyer Teresa Tico represented Brem’s cousin, Paula Andrea Gonzalez Ramirez, a businesswoman from Bogota, Colombia. She says Ramirez’s family will receive $425,000, a lower amount because she didn’t earn as much as her cousin.

Brem and Ramirez were visiting Kauai when they fell from Opaekaa Falls.

A Kauai judge previously ruled that the state was liable in their deaths.