Premises liability is the legal responsibility a property owner or occupier has when someone is injured on their property due to an unsafe or dangerous condition. In Kansas and Missouri, property owners have a legal duty to maintain reasonably safe conditions for visitors. When they fail to do so,and someone gets hurt as a result, the injured person may be entitled to compensation.

Common premises liability cases include slip and fall accidents, inadequate security leading to criminal attacks, falling objects, structural defects, dog bites, and exposure to toxic substances like radon or mold.

To succeed on a premises liability claim in Kansas or Missouri, you generally need to show four things:

1. The property owner or occupier owed you a duty of care.
2. A dangerous condition existed on the property.
3. The owner knew or should have known about the dangerous condition and failed to fix it or warn you.
4. The dangerous condition caused your injury and resulting damages.

What counts as “should have known” is often the key battleground in these cases. Our attorneys investigate thoroughly to establish that the hazard existed long enough or was recurring enough that a reasonable property owner would have addressed it.

Common situations that may qualify include:

• Slip and fall accidents: wet or slippery floors, uneven pavement, or inadequate warning signs
• Negligent security: failure to provide adequate security measures, leading to criminal assaults or robberies
• Structural defects: broken stairs, defective handrails, or damaged walkways
• Falling objects: merchandise falling from shelves, ceiling tiles, or overhead structures
• Animal attacks: dog bites or other animal attacks occurring on the property
• Toxic exposure: radon, mold, asbestos, or chemical hazards
• Construction site accidents: unsafe conditions that injure workers or visitors
• Swimming pool accidents: lack of fencing, warnings, or supervision

If you were hurt on someone else’s property and believe the condition that caused your injury had existed for some time, you may have a claim. Contact MRH Injury Law for a free consultation.

Your first priority is always your health and safety. Beyond that:

• Call the police, make sure a report is created, and request a copy for your records.
• Seek medical attention immediately, even if you feel okay. Some injuries are not immediately apparent.
• Photograph the scene, the hazard, and your injuries before conditions change.
• Get the names and contact information of any witnesses.
• Report the incident to the property owner or manager and request a written incident report.
• Save all documents, including the police report, medical records, and any correspondence with the property owner or their insurer.
• Do not sign anything from an insurance company before speaking with an attorney.

Contact MRH Injury Law as soon as possible so we can preserve evidence before it disappears.

The statute of limitations or the deadline to file a lawsuit varies by state and by the type of case. Generally, personal injury claims in Missouri must be filed within five years, while Kansas allows two years. However, there are important exceptions that can shorten or sometimes extend these deadlines, particularly when government-owned property is involved or when the injured party is a minor.

Do not wait to find out. Valuable evidence like surveillance footage, witness memories and physical hazards can disappear quickly. Contact an attorney as soon as possible after your injury.

Every case is unique, but MRH Injury Law pursues every available form of compensation, including:

• Medical expenses including hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation, and ongoing treatment
• Lost wages and loss of earning capacity
• Pain, suffering, and emotional distress
• Disability or permanent impairment
• Wrongful death damages for surviving family members when injuries are fatal
• Punitive damages in cases involving especially reckless or egregious conduct

How much you recover depends on the severity of your injuries, the strength of the liability evidence, whether the responsible party can pay, and where your case must be filed. Read more about the top 5 things that affect case value at kansascityinjuryfirm.com.

You may still be able to recover compensation even if you were partly at fault. Kansas follows a modified comparative fault rule, limiting recovery to plaintiffs who are less than 50% at fault. Missouri follows a pure comparative fault rule, allowing recovery regardless of your percentage of fault, though your compensation will be reduced by your share of responsibility.

Insurance companies routinely try to assign blame to injured victims to reduce or eliminate their payouts. Our attorneys investigate cases carefully to push back on unfair fault assignments.

Yes, in many cases. If a property owner failed to provide reasonable security measures and that failure allowed a crime to occur, they can be held legally responsible for your injuries. This is known as a negligent security or crime victim case.

Property owners including landlords, hotels, bars, parking garages, apartment complexes, and retail stores have a duty to protect lawful visitors from foreseeable criminal acts. When prior crimes have occurred on or near the property and the owner failed to respond with adequate security, that inaction can constitute negligence.

Find out if you have a case.

Crime victim cases often arise from:

• Assault and battery in parking lots, garages, or common areas
• Robbery or carjacking due to inadequate lighting or security
• Sexual assault in hotels, apartment complexes, or commercial properties
• Rape or sexual abuse resulting from a failure to protect people
• Shootings at bars, nightclubs, or entertainment venues
• Human trafficking at hotels or motels that ignored warning signs

The key question is whether the crime was foreseeable, meaning there was prior criminal activity at or near the location that the property owner knew or should have known about.

No. Your civil claim against the property owner is separate from any criminal case against the perpetrator. You do not need a criminal conviction or even an identified suspect to pursue a negligent security claim. Civil cases use a lower standard of proof (“preponderance of the evidence”) than criminal cases (“beyond a reasonable doubt”).

MRH Injury Law has successfully recovered multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements in crime victim cases where the perpetrator was never prosecuted.

Strong crime victim cases are built on evidence showing the crime was foreseeable and the property owner failed to act. This typically includes:

• Police reports and 911 call records showing prior criminal incidents on or near the property
• Security incident logs and management records
• Surveillance footage from the property and surrounding area
• Lighting inspections and condition assessments
• Maintenance records showing deferred or neglected repairs to security systems
• Expert testimony from security consultants on industry standards
• Social media and public data showing criminal activity in the area

Our attorneys investigate aggressively and have the resources to hire investigators, security experts, and reconstruction specialists when needed.

Security negligence, also called negligent security, occurs when a property owner or business fails to implement reasonable security measures to protect visitors, tenants, or customers from foreseeable harm. It is a subset of premises liability law.

Examples include a bar with a history of fights failing to hire adequate security staff, an apartment complex with broken gate locks that allows unauthorized access, or a hotel with a known crime problem that fails to install adequate lighting or cameras.

The law does not mandate a specific checklist. Instead, property owners must take security precautions that are reasonable given the nature of the property and the foreseeability of criminal activity. Factors courts consider include:

• The history of prior criminal incidents on or near the property
• The type of business and its hours of operation
• The location of the property and known crime rates in the area
• Security measures industry standards dictate for that type of property
• Steps the owner had previously taken (or promised to take) to address security concerns

Common reasonable security measures include adequate lighting, working locks and access controls, security cameras, trained security personnel, and emergency communication systems.

Security negligence cases frequently involve:

• Apartment complexes and residential properties
• Hotels and motels
• Bars, nightclubs, and entertainment venues
• Parking lots and parking garages
• Retail stores and shopping centers
• College campuses and dormitories
• Gas stations and convenience stores
• Office buildings and commercial properties

High-traffic properties in areas with documented criminal activity carry heightened responsibility to protect their visitors and tenants.

Our attorneys build security negligence cases by showing that criminal activity was foreseeable and that the property owner’s failure to act was unreasonable. This typically involves:

• Investigating prior criminal activity on the property and surrounding area through police records and 911 data
• Reviewing security policies, training records, and maintenance logs
• Analyzing surveillance footage and lighting conditions
• Working with security industry experts to establish the applicable standard of care
• Identifying prior complaints, lawsuits, or incidents the owner was aware of

Insurance companies argue these crimes were unforeseeable “acts of third parties” to avoid liability. Our job is to prove otherwise and we have a track record of doing exactly that.

We have taken numerous premises liability cases, including crime victim and security negligence cases to jury trial. In our 40+ years of combined experience, we’ve learned that someone else is usually responsible when you’re hurt on their property. We dig deep to find out who by hiring investigators, conducting depositions, recreating scenes, and retaining industry experts.

We frequently take cases rejected by other law firms and settle them for millions of dollars. We are not a high-volume churn-and-burn firm. We take cases we believe in and invest significant time and attention into each one.

Read 7 reasons to hire MRH

MRH Injury Law works on a contingency fee basis. That means you pay nothing upfront, and we only get paid if we recover compensation for you. This ensures that our financial interests are completely aligned with yours. We don’t succeed unless you do.

Some cases resolve in a few months. Others may take a year or more depending on the complexity of liability, the severity of injuries, and whether litigation is required. Serious injury cases, particularly crime victim and security negligence matters often involve extensive investigation and expert testimony that take time to develop properly.

A longer timeline in a serious case is usually part of protecting your recovery, not a drawback. Quick settlements are often far below what a case is truly worth. Our goal is always to maximize your compensation, not to close files quickly.

If you were injured on someone else’s property because of an unsafe condition or because inadequate security allowed a crime to occur, you may have a strong claim, even if other attorneys have turned you down.

MRH Injury Law frequently takes cases rejected by other firms and settles them for millions of dollars. Use our “Do I Have a Case?” tool or contact us for a free initial consultation.