Lawsuit Claims Hawaii Mall Officials Knew About Faulty Rail

Lawyers who have filed a lawsuit against the parent company of Hawaii’s Ala Moana Center say mall officials were warned about a railing years before it gave way, killing a young man and leaving another with a traumatic brain injury.

Nicholas Freitas died and his best friend Macroy Nagato suffered a traumatic injury when the third-level parking deck rail broke in 2016. Both were 21 years old at the time.

Attorney L. Richard Fried Jr. said Nagato is wheelchair-bound, brain damaged, partially paralyzed and partially blind from the fall.

Fried Jr. said the mall and parent company General Growth Properties knew about the rusty rail posts since 2005, when a contractor found it and recommended repairs.

An Ala Moana representative could not be reached for immediate comment.