Case Notes

• Year: 2025
• Citation: Vol. 29 No. 06

CASE NOTES

[Page 28]

Appeal Pointer

A motion filed in the appellate court may be summarily denied without prejudice if the motion is not accompanied by proof that the motion was served on all parties at or before the time of filing. HRAP 25(b), 25(d), 27(a).

Supreme Court Workers' Compensation

Borrson v. Weeks, No. SCWC-19-0000552, April 22, 2025, (Eddins, J., with Ginoza, J., concurring separately and dissenting, with whom Recktenwald, CJ. joins). A landlord operated "a business renting homes." A tenant performed repair, maintenance, and improvement work for that business. In return, the landlord reduced the tenant's rent and paid him. The tenant fell while doing roof work on one of the landlord's five rental units. The tenant filed a workers' compensation claim. The landlord denied an employment relationship existed and disputed that the tenant suffered a work-related injury. The Hawaii Supreme Court held that in the workers' compensation context, there was an employer-employee relationship between the landlord and tenant.

Ginoza, J., concurred and dissented with Recktenwald, C.J. joined. Appellee Brenda Weeks (Weeks) is a registered nurse who owns property in Kona, Hawai'i, which includes several dwellings. She resided in one dwelling and rented the others to tenants. Between 2013 and 2015, Claimant-Appellant James Borrson (Borrson) and his wife rented a one-bedroom cottage from Weeks under annual rental and related agreements. This case arose from injuries Borrson sustained after falling from a ladder while installing roof panels on Weeks's personal residence. The question is whether, as to this incident, Weeks was Borrson's employer such that Borrson was entitled to workers' compensation benefits from Weeks. The testimony...