Seeking entries for ’10 Who Made a Difference’

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser invites you to nominate people who have made a difference in Hawaii during the past year. They can be people who fought controversial battles in public or worked behind the scenes in any field — community service, education, politics, law, labor, medicine, science, business, sports, entertainment, the arts. All that matters is that they had a devotion to their cause and made a profound impact on Hawaii.

To nominate someone, explain why you think the person should be honored. Deadline for nominations is Dec. 9.

Honorees will be selected by Star-Advertiser editors. We will publish the results starting Dec. 22.

Please include the following information: your name, your nomination and your work and home telephone numbers.

E-mail your nominations to difference@staradvertiser.com, or mail them to 10 Who Made a Difference, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96813.

Trial begins over rockslide that injured pair

An assistant state attorney general says the state is not liable for injuries suffered by a couple that has sued after a 2007 rockslide on Hawaii island left them seriously injured.

Opening statements began Monday in the trial of Michael Patrick and Leiloni O’Grady, who are seeking medical expenses and compensation from lost wages after a 160-ton rock crushed their car in Kau. They say the state could have done something to prevent the rockslide in 2007.

The boulder flipped the car on its roof and sent it sliding upside down, said the O’Gradys’ attorney Ronald Self of Pahala. Leiloni O’Grady was a school speech pathologist and is unable to work because of constant pain, she said, while her severely injured husband has returned to work as a school social worker.

In December 2004 a consultant hired by the Hawaii Department of Transportation visited the site where the rock fell and found a high potential for the rock to fall, the couple’s other lawyer, Peter Bersin, said in his opening statement.

The rockslide was a "totally foreseeable event," Bersin said, according to the Hawaii Herald-Tribune. Bersin also said there should have been a catch basin for the boulder to fall into.

Assistant Attorney General Randolph Slanton said in his opening statement that the state is not legally liable for the couple’s injuries. He said the site wasn’t a "Top 10" site and that money for remediation went to areas that were higher on the list.

"Under any circumstances we intend to prove that the DOT, under its contractor, exercised reasonable judgment," he said.