Hawaii Injuries Glossary

Legal and insurance terms explained plainly

A charge like this can mean steeper fines, longer license loss, more jail exposure, and a much harder fight over plea offers, insurance, and any civil case tied to a crash....

GLOSSARY 2026-03-31

area of impact

Miss this detail after a crash, and the whole story can get twisted: the wrong driver gets blamed, speeds get guessed at, and people assume the point of visible damage tells...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-22

arising out of employment

The part that trips people up most is that being hurt at work is not always enough. For an injury to be "arising out of employment," there must be a real link between the job...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23

average weekly wage

Miss this number, and a work injury can cost far more than your paycheck. If the weekly amount used in your claim is too low, every disability check tied to it may be too low...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-26

black box data

You just got a letter that says the insurer wants to download data from your vehicle's "black box" after a crash. In most passenger vehicles, that phrase usually means...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-22

chemical test refusal

Insurance companies and defense lawyers often spin a refusal like it proves a driver "must have been drunk" or was hiding something. That is a neat story, but not the full...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-30

compensation rate

Think of it like a dimmer switch on a paycheck: after a work injury, the money usually does not stay at full brightness, but it should not drop to zero either. In legal and...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-29

course and scope of employment

People often mix this up with arising out of employment, but they are not the same. Course and scope of employment is about when, where, and why someone was doing an activity...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-26

crush analysis

A method of estimating crash severity by measuring how much a vehicle's structure was permanently deformed and comparing that damage to known engineering data. People often...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-22

cumulative trauma

People often confuse cumulative trauma with a single-incident injury, and the difference matters. A single-incident injury happens at one identifiable moment, like a fall, a...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-26

DUI vs DWI

What trips people up most is that DUI and DWI do not always mean different things. In many states, the labels are used interchangeably for impaired driving offenses, while in...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-31

exclusive remedy doctrine

Not a rule that blocks every injured person from suing, and not a promise that an employer can never be held responsible. Instead, it is the rule that when a workplace injury...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-26

extreme DUI

Insurance adjusters and defense lawyers love throwing around this label because it sounds ugly, reckless, and almost impossible to defend. They use it to paint someone as...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-31

First Amendment rights

Bad advice about free speech can cost real money. People often assume these rights let them say anything, anywhere, without consequences. That is wrong. First Amendment rights...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23

functional capacity evaluation

A work injury claim can rise or fall on what an injured person is still physically able to do, because that can affect wage-loss benefits, return-to-work options, job...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-30

going and coming rule

Were you hurt while traveling to or from work, and now wondering whether workers' comp covers it? The going and coming rule is the general rule that injuries suffered during an...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23

horizontal gaze nystagmus

You might see this in an arrest report, a prosecutor's packet, or an officer's notes after a traffic stop: "HGN observed," "6 of 6 clues," or "lack of smooth pursuit." It means...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-02

ignition interlock device

You might see this in a court order, DMV notice, or a lawyer's letter saying someone must install an "ignition interlock device" before driving again. That means a small...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-02

impairment rating

A medical percentage that measures the lasting loss of bodily function after an injury or illness. "Medical" means it is assigned by a qualified clinician, not by the injured...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-26

implied consent

What trips people up most is that implied consent is not the same as actual, voluntary agreement at the roadside. It is a legal condition attached to the privilege of driving:...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-31

independent medical exam

An independent medical exam can directly affect wage-loss benefits, medical treatment approval, and the overall value of a claim. If the examiner says an injury is less...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23

informed consent

After surgery at The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, a patient may hear the hospital's lawyers point to a signed form and say the risks were disclosed, so the bad outcome...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-21

lane splitting

The surprising part is that moving a motorcycle between two lanes of cars can feel like ordinary traffic flow, but in Hawaii it can create a legal problem very quickly. Think...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-21

light duty

A temporary or permanent change in job tasks that lets an employee keep working while avoiding duties their injury or medical condition makes unsafe. Light duty usually means...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-25

maximum medical improvement

You'll usually see this in a doctor's report, an insurer letter, or a call where someone says you've "reached MMI" and your claim is moving to the next stage. What that means,...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-28

misdemeanor DUI

"If it's only a misdemeanor, is it basically no big deal?" No. A misdemeanor DUI is still a criminal charge for driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or another...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-02

modified duty

The part that trips people up most is this: taking lighter work after an injury does not automatically mean you are "fine," and refusing it does not always protect your...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-30

occupational disease

What trips people up most is that an illness can count even when it develops slowly and from repeated exposure, not from one obvious workplace accident. An occupational disease...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23

operating under the influence

Driving or being in actual physical control of a vehicle while alcohol, drugs, or another intoxicant impairs safe operation. "Operating" is broader than simply moving down the...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-01

OWI

Miss what this means, and the damage can pile up fast: arrest, license loss, a criminal record, denied insurance help, and a wrecked injury claim if someone gets hauled to...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-31

perception-reaction time

Often confused with braking time, perception-reaction time is the interval before braking even begins. Perception-reaction time is the time a person needs to notice a hazard,...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-22

permanent partial disability

A finding of permanent partial disability can directly affect how much money an injured worker receives after medical treatment levels off. When pain, weakness, lost motion, or...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-26

permanent total disability

Will I ever be able to work again? That is usually the question behind permanent total disability. It means an injury or illness has reached a lasting stage where the person is...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-25

photogrammetry

Insurance companies and defense lawyers may wave this word around to make a crash analysis sound more precise than it really is. They may claim a computer-generated scene...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-22

point of impact

Where the vehicles, a vehicle and a person, or a vehicle and a fixed object actually made contact can strongly affect who pays for the damage, how fault is assigned, and...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-22

retrograde extrapolation

Not a magic math trick that can tell exactly how intoxicated someone was at the moment of driving, retrograde extrapolation is an estimate of a person's earlier blood alcohol...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-03

return-to-work order

Do I have to go back to my job now? A return-to-work order is a medical or administrative instruction saying an injured worker can go back to work, either with no restrictions...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-29

scheduled injury

What gets labeled a scheduled injury can directly affect how much money is paid and how predictable a workers' compensation claim becomes. When an injury falls into this...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-30

SCRAM bracelet

People often confuse a SCRAM bracelet with a regular GPS ankle monitor. A GPS monitor tracks where a person goes. A SCRAM bracelet tracks alcohol use. SCRAM stands for Secure...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-01

second injury fund

People often mix up a second injury fund with a regular workers' compensation insurance policy. They are not the same thing. Workers' comp insurance pays benefits for a job...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-27

separation of powers

You just got a letter that says a new rule affecting your case came from an agency, but a judge will decide whether that rule was applied legally. That situation points to...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23

sight distance

Miss this factor, and a crash can look like it came out of nowhere when it really didn't. Sight distance is the length of roadway a driver, rider, or pedestrian can see clearly...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-22

temporary partial disability

The worst-case mistake is going back to work too soon, earning less because of your injury, and not realizing there may be a wage-loss benefit that covers part of that gap....

GLOSSARY 2026-03-24

temporary total disability

People often confuse temporary total disability with temporary partial disability. Temporary total disability means an injured person cannot work at all for a limited period...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23

third-party claim

A separate claim against someone other than your employer can make a big difference in how much money is available after a serious injury. When workers' compensation covers...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-25

unscheduled injury

The part that trips people up most is that "unscheduled" does not mean minor, unofficial, or uncovered. It usually means the injury is not one of the body parts or losses...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-29

utilization review

Insurance companies and defense lawyers often throw this phrase around when they want to slow down treatment, cut off care, or argue that a doctor is ordering too much. It can...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-28

vocational rehabilitation

Insurance companies and defense lawyers sometimes use this phrase to suggest an injured worker should be able to "move on" to lighter work quickly, even when pain, nerve...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-29

zero tolerance law

What does "zero tolerance" actually mean if you had just one drink? It means the law sets an extremely low limit and gives officers very little room to overlook alcohol or...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-01