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Hawaii · Common-law liquor liability
Hawaii Hospitality, Resort & Bar Operations Expert Witness
Ryan Dahlstrom accepts hospitality and entertainment expert-witness engagements in Hawaii. 35+ years of hands-on experience in bars, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, live entertainment venues and special events — retained by attorneys representing plaintiffs and defendants.
In short
Ryan Dahlstrom is a hospitality and entertainment industry expert witness who accepts engagements in Hawaii. He has more than 35 years of hands-on experience in bars, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, live entertainment venues and special events, and is retained by attorneys representing plaintiffs and defendants. In Hawaii matters he evaluates hospitality and venue operations, alcohol service and overservice, bar and nightclub operations, restaurant operations and management, security operations and negligent security, premises liability, event management, event security, event and stage safety, and surveillance video analysis. The governing framework in Hawaii is Haw. Rev. Stat. § 281-78 (prohibitions). His opinions address operational standards — staffing, training, supervision, policy and procedure — and do not extend to engineering, toxicology or medical causation.
Hawaii Law
Common-law liquor liability
Hawaii has no dram shop statute. Civil liability for commercial alcohol suppliers rests on common-law negligence, which Hawaii courts have recognised: a third party injured by an intoxicated tavern patron may have a right of action against the establishment that served them.
The statutory prohibitions in Haw. Rev. Stat. § 281-78 — including the prohibition on furnishing alcohol to a person under 21 or to a person visibly intoxicated — supply the standard of conduct that a negligence claim is built around.
Because the claim is a negligence claim rather than a statutory one, the ordinary negligence architecture applies: duty, breach measured against the standard of care for a reasonably prudent licensed operator, causation and damages. That puts industry standards and the venue's own written procedures squarely in issue. The limitation period for these claims is two years.
Statutes and regulatory schemes change, and this is not legal advice. Citations were verified against the state code or controlling decision and the named regulator at the time of writing; counsel should confirm the provision current to the date of loss. Ryan offers opinions on operational standards, not on the law itself.
Hospitality Context
Hawaii Venues and Operations
Hawaii's licensed trade is dominated by resort and hotel food and beverage — Waikiki, Wailea, Ka‘anapali, Poipu and the Kohala Coast — with pool and beach bars, luau and large-event operations, and a Chinatown and Waikiki late-night bar scene. Licensing is administered county by county, so procedures differ across islands under a single brand.
Evidence
What Ryan Reviews in a Hawaii Matter
- Service and POS records correlated into an operational timeline.
- Surveillance video across the service period, reviewed for observable indicators and reconciled against records and testimony.
- Training and certification records for the staff actually on shift, measured against the state's server-training scheme.
- Written policy and procedure — and whether practice matched the document.
- Staffing, supervision and deployment at the relevant time, including security posts and ratios against actual occupancy.
- Incident reports and prior-incident history bearing on foreseeability.
Scope
Areas Ryan May Be Retained On in Hawaii
Where relevant to the matter. Ryan is retained by attorneys representing plaintiffs and defendants; opinions follow the facts and the applicable standard of care, not the retaining party.
Hospitality
- Hospitality operations
- Hospitality management
- Venue operations
- Hotel operations
- Management practices
- Policies and procedures
- Employee training
- Operational standards
Alcohol service
- Dram shop
- Liquor liability
- Alcohol service
- Alcohol overservice
- Responsible beverage service
- Alcohol service to minors
Bar, nightclub & restaurant
- Bar operations
- Bar management
- Nightclub operations
- Nightclub management
- Restaurant operations
- Restaurant management
- Beverage operations
Security
- Security operations
- Bar security
- Nightclub security
- Event security
- Negligent security
- Crowd management
- Crowd control
Premises & events
- Premises liability
- Event management
- Event operations
- Event safety
- Event & stage safety
- Special event management
Analysis
- Surveillance video analysis
- Surveillance video compilation
- Incident timeline analysis
- Standard of care review
Availability
Hawaii Engagements
Available for Hawaii engagements
Ryan Dahlstrom accepts expert-witness engagements in Hawaii and in all 50 states. His CV documents engagements in nine jurisdictions — Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, Illinois, Utah, Washington, California, New York and Kentucky. Where a state is not among those, it means no engagement there is publicly disclosed in the CV; it does not limit availability, and the operational standards at issue in hospitality and entertainment litigation do not change at a state line. What changes is the cause of action available and the evidence that proves it.
Questions
Hawaii — Common Questions from Counsel
Does Hawaii have a dram shop statute?
Why does county-level licensing matter in a Hawaii case?
What is reviewed in a Hawaii resort pool or luau service case?
Hawaii Matter Under Review?
Submit a case inquiry for a confidential conflicts check and evaluation. Ryan responds to all inquiries within one business day.