Ricci v. Gaiotti

── Ricci v. Gaiotti ── Court: Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals Date: June 03, 2026 Category: General NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAII REPORTS OR THE PACIFIC REPORTER Electronically Filed Intermediate Court of Appeals CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX 03-JUN-2026 07:37 AM Dkt. 105 SO NO. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I GARY J. RICCI, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ANNETTE GAIOTTI, DONALD GOLDBERG, Defendants-Appellees, and DOES 1-10, Defendants. APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SECOND CIRCUIT (CASE NO. 2CCV-XX-XXXXXXX) SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER (By: Leonard, Presiding Judge, and Wadsworth and Guidry, JJ.) Plaintiff-Appellant Gary J. Ricci (Ricci) appeals from the Judgment entered in favor of Defendants-Appellees Annette Gaiotti and Donald Goldberg (Defendants) on November 26, 2024, by the Circuit Court of the Second Circuit (Circuit Court).1/ Ricci also challenges the Circuit Court's Order Granting Defendants['] . . . Motion for Partial Summary Judgment as to Medical Causation, Filed on January 29, 2024 [Dkt. 201] (Order Granting MPSJ).2/ The operative First Amended Verified Complaint, filed on March 18, 2022, asserted a single, negligence claim against Defendants. Ricci alleged that he suffered an injury to his left 1/ The Honorable Michelle L. Drewyer presided. 2/ Ricci originally appealed from the Order Granting MPSJ. On November 22, 2024, we temporarily remanded this matter to the Circuit Court for entry of an appealable judgment. On November 26, 2024, the Circuit Court entered the Judgment, which perfected the appeal under Hawai#i Rules of Appellate Procedure Rule 4(a)(2).  NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAII REPORTS OR THE PACIFIC REPORTER eye – his only working eye – and related damages when a rock hit him while using a weed whacker at Defendants' property (the Incident). More specifically, Ricci claimed in responses to interrogatories that he suffered "loss of vision, difficulty focusing[ and] tear duct issues/soaking eye" and was "[d]epressed, worried about [his] future vision" after he "was struck in the left eye by flying debris . . . ." On January 29, 2024, Defendants filed a motion for partial summary judgment as to medical causation (MPSJ). They argued that Ricci would be unable to prove the causation element of his negligence claim, because he did not have any medical evidence that his alleged eye deficits were caused by the Incident as opposed to pre-existing conditions and injuries or subsequent events. Defendants pointed to attached interrogatory responses and deposition testimony by Ricci indicating that he had scratched his left eye on an agave plant in March 2020, a month before the Incident; confirming that records from his treatment providers showed he had cataracts in his left eye prior to the Incident; and confirming that a treatment provider after the Incident found no evidence of a foreign body present in his left eye.3/ Defendants argued that given these circumstances, Ricci would need expert medical testimony to establish a causal link between the Incident and his alleged eye deficits, and though the deadline for producing expert reports had passed, Ricci had not identified an expert or produced a report establishing medical causation.4/ In opposing the MPSJ, Ricci discussed the Incident and his alleged eye injuries. He argued that the prior agave injury to his eye was documented as a "mild abrasion." He stated his intent to have expert testimony on