Shuttle bus company
faces injury lawsuit

Two Japanese visitors struck by a minibus last month while standing on a Waikiki sidewalk sued the shuttle company and owner Dia Bello in Circuit Court yesterday, alleging negligence caused the accident.

Yoshimi Yamaguchi, 40, and Kiyotaka Doi, 52, and a 23-year-old woman, all from Osaka, were standing in front of the Hyatt Regency Hotel at 9:36 a.m. Aug. 15 when a Reliable Shuttle minibus plowed into them.

Yamaguchi and Doi sustained multiple rib fractures, Yamaguchi suffered a fractured knee and they both suffered other bodily injuries, said their attorney, Peter Hsieh. The two were laid up for several days, he said.

At the time, Yamaguchi and Doi were on a company vacation with a group, Hsieh said.

The 23-year-old woman, who is not acquainted with the other two, was treated for bruises and released.

The minibus was in the center lane of Kalakaua Avenue just before Kaiulani Avenue when the driver was cut off by another vehicle, police said. The minibus driver veered left, lost control, and the minibus jumped the curb in front of the Hyatt Regency, police had said. He also struck a 2-foot retaining wall.

The lawsuit alleges gross negligence on the part of the driver and the company for not operating the vehicle safely and at a safe speed and/or for not maintaining it in a safe and good working condition, among other things.

The suit said the man and woman "sustained serious and disabling injuries, severe and permanent bodily injuries, disabilities, disfigurement, severe and long-term emotional distress and mental anguish, including post-traumatic stress disorder, despair, depression, anxiety, loss of income, medical ... and long-term medical care expenses."