Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the registered owner or lessee of a tow truck shall:

(1) Permanently affix on each door of the truck a sign with the name and telephone number of the tow business. The letters and numbers used in the sign shall be no less than two inches in height; and

Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-135

  • Bodily injury: means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
  • county: includes the city and county of Honolulu. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-22
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Owner: means a person, other than a lien holder, having the property in or title to a vehicle. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Vehicle: means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a roadway or highway, including mopeds and bicycles, but excluding toy bicycles, devices other than bicycles moved by human power, and devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
(2) Maintain insurance in the following amounts:

(A) Bodily injury of not less than $500,000;
(B) Property damage of not less than $200,000; and
(C) On-hook coverage of not less than $175,000; or
(D) A combined single limit of liability of not less than $1,000,000, to protect owners of towed vehicles in the event of vehicle loss or damage due to towing or bodily injury in the course of towing. If a tow operator fails to comply with the insurance requirements of this section, no charges, including storage charges, may be collected by the tow operator as a result of the tow or as a condition of the release of the towed vehicle. Any person, including the registered owner, lien holder, or insurer of the vehicle, who has been injured by the tow operator’s failure to comply with this section is entitled to sue for damages sustained. If a judgment is obtained by the plaintiff, the court shall award the plaintiff a sum of not less than $1,000 or threefold damages sustained by the plaintiff, whichever sum is greater, and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.

This section shall not apply to a county that has adopted ordinances regulating towing operations.

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