Overland Park Premises Liability Attorneys

What is duty of care in premises liability claims?

Two of the most common types of property owners are business owners and homeowners. Each owes a specific duty of care to visitors and guests who enter their property. Business owners, for example, are held to higher standards when providing a reasonably safe environment for their patrons and other visitors of their establishment. Business owners must consistently ensure that their property is safe and free from any potentially dangerous hazards.

Homeowners, on the other hand, have different levels of liability depending on the status of the visitor. For example, a person who unlawfully enters another person’s home – a trespasser – is not entitled to a reasonable duty of care from the homeowner.

The level of responsibility that a property owner owes to a visitor depends on the status of the visitor. Visitors can be classified into three types:

• Invitees. These types of visitors are people that enter a property for a financial reason or who enter a property that is open to the general public. Property owners have a legal obligation to invitees to provide a reasonably safe environment.
• Licensees. These types of visitors are people who have permission to enter a property and do so for a specific purpose, like a contractor. Property owners have a legal obligation to warn licensees of any potential dangers on the premises, specifically dangers that the property owner should be reasonably aware of.
• Trespassers. These types of visitors are not allowed on the premises. Property owners do not owe these types of visitors any legal obligation, with the exception of those with intent of purposely harming the trespasser.

Some states still use the status approach when determining the property owner’s liability in a premises liability claim. However, some states are abandoning the status approach and requiring property owners to use a “reasonable care” standard for all types of visitors.

What is the ordinary negligence approach?

The ordinary negligence approach is the “reasonable care” standard that some states, including Kansas, are beginning to use when assessing how negligent a property owner acted in a premises liability case. Under this reasonable care standard, the property owner has a general duty to warn visitors, regardless of their status, of any potential dangers on the property that are not known to the visitor and would not have been obvious to the visitor. With respect to trespassers, the duty owed is to “refrain from willfully, wantonly or recklessly injuring the trespasser.