The state is liable in the deaths of two visiting hikers who fell 300 feet to their deaths at Kauai’s Opaekaa Falls because it failed to post warnings about the dangerous conditions there, a Kauai judge has ruled.

Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe’s 44-page decision last week found that the state had a duty to warn or protect Elizabeth Brem and her cousin Paula Gonzalez Ramirez, who fell Dec. 19, 2006.

The falls is within the Wailua River State Park.

The second phase of the case will be to decide the amount of money the state must pay the women’s estates and families.

Honolulu attorney Mark Davis, one of the lawyers for the two women, said how much will be sought has not yet been determined, but said it will be a “very significant” amount.

Brem, 35, of Encinitas, Calif., a lawyer and mother of two, and her cousin Ramirez, 29, a businesswoman from Bogota, Columbia, were on their first trip to Kauai.