Updated at 7:01 p.m., Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Suit filed against state in deaths of 2 Kauai visitors
Advertiser Staff
A lawsuit blames the deaths of two visitors last December at Opaeka'a Falls on Kaua'i on misleading directional signs posted by the state.Elizabeth Brem of San Diego, 35, and her 39-year-old cousin, Paula Ramirez of Colombia, were killed last Dec. 19 when they fell 300 feet after mistakenly choosing a dangerously steep path to the falls.
The suit filed Nov. 21 at Kaua'i Circuit Court targets the "Danger Keep Out Hazardous Conditions" sign posted at the trailhead off of Kuamo'o Road where the path begins with a fork leading in opposite directions, claiming the trail to the left used most often had the sign, but that there was no warning posted in front of the more treacherous trail to the right.
"The signage would certainly lead a reasonable individual to conclude that the safer trail discussed in numerous guidebooks and frequently discussed by local residents was the one which was unmarked and not subject to the 'keep out' sign," attorney Mark S. Davis said in a news release.
Davis is representing Brem's family while Teresa Tico of Lihue has been retained by the Ramirez family.
State Department of Land & Natural Resources spokeswoman Deborah Ward reserved comment today because officials had not yet received a copy of the suit.
Brem was a Yale University graduate and a mergers and acquisitions partner at the law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher who had been appointed to the California Coastal Conservancy Board just before her death.
