The lead attorney for the two hikers who fell to their deaths near Opaeka‘a Falls last year says state officials not only posted a warning in front of the wrong trail, but that within 24 hours of the deaths the
The lead attorney for the two hikers who fell to their deaths near Opaeka‘a Falls last year says state officials not only posted a warning in front of the wrong trail, but that within 24 hours of the deaths the signs were switched.
Elizabeth Brem, 35, and her 29-year-old cousin, Paula Gonzalez Ramirez, fell Dec. 18, 2006, after veering right, instead of left, to an impassable area.
A lawsuit filed against the state claims the state negligently created a false appearance of safety by posting a sign to the left reading, “danger, keep out, hazardous conditions.” The more treacherous direction was right; however, the two women heeded the incorrect signage.
Brem and Ramirez were vacationing together, awaiting the arrival of Brem’s husband, Monte, the next day.
After the accident, when police returned to the site with Monte Brem, “someone from the state had rearranged the signs,” said Attorney Mark Davis, alluding to an excerpt of the police report. Davis is representing the Brem family in the case, and attorney Teresa Tico is representing the Ramirez family.
Though some guidebooks have alluded to crude trails near Opaeka‘a Falls Lookout suggesting to proceed on the less trodden paths, Davis said there are no plans to file suit against those publications.
“There was a federal court case in which a guidebook gave instructions and the court ruled in favor of First Amendment rights,” he said. “The book publisher has a First Amendment right to be wrong and inaccurate.”
More importantly, Davis said, the significance of guidebooks directing people to the Opaeka‘a Falls in this case is that it demonstrates another reason the state should have been alerted to its use.
“This is not a situation in which somebody was finding an obscure tourist location to explore,” Davis said. “We know the state knew about it enough to try to put signage up to deal with concerns about the risk of it. Whoever constructed the signage is the reason these two women died.”
Deborah Ward, Department of Land and Natural Resources spokeswoman, said she could not comment on the case as it is “pending litigation.”
Surviving family members said Brem, a 35-year-old attorney from Colombia who left behind two small children, was dedicated to preserving land for public use, and was appointed to the California Coastal Conservancy board by California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez.
In conjunction with her law firm, Brem set up a foundation to sponsor the education of outstanding Hispanic women in need financially.
Ramirez, 29, of Bogota, Colombia, worked for the Hunter Douglas window company. An inconsolable Marta Lucia Ramirez, mother to Paula, was barely audible in a phone interview following her daughter’s death last year. “She was so young — she was only 29,” Ramirez had said. “She was my only daughter.”
• Amanda C. Gregg, assistant editor/staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or agregg@kauaipubco.com.
