Suit settled in man's fatal fall from cliff
WAILUKU » The widow of a man who fell off a 300-foot cliff while at an overnight stay at a family reunion has settled a lawsuit against a vacation rental business for $1 million.
The body of Stephen A. Goddard, 60, a Honolulu attorney, was found at the base of the cliff on Dec. 31, 2003.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of his wife, Mitsuko Goddard, and Goddard's estate.
James Krueger, the family's attorney, said while three other neighboring landowners had fences near the cliff, the vacation rental property at Huelo Point Flower Farm did not have a fence.
He said shrubbery obscured the location of the cliff and the night floodlights on the patio weren't working.
"You couldn't tell where the land ended," he said yesterday.
Krueger said the operators of the vacation rental have sold the farm and two property insurance firms settled the lawsuit. The former owners of the farm were unavailable for comment.