Winter is upon us and with it comes snow and ice. Every winter season thousands of people are seriously injured from falling on slick or icy surfaces. Many people are of the impression that if they fall on commercial premises, the business owner is always liable for their medical expenses and damages. The law, however, requires the injured person to prove a dangerous condition existed on the premises, further, that the owner knew the dangerous condition existed and failed to take action to make the premises safe despite having sufficient time and opportunity to do so. These cases compose a body of law known as “premises liability.” The insurance industry likes to call them “slip and fall” cases. The phrase tends to infer the person who was injured was at fault because the injured party “slipped and fell.” These case can be challenging since it is often hard to prove the owner had prior knowledge of the dangerous condition. If one falls in the middle of an ice storm or blizzard, the defense will obviously be that the owner had no opportunity to treat or remove the ice yet. Weather records are often important to show the precipitation was two or three days old and the owner should have treated and removed the ice before someone got hurt. The issues remain the same regardless of how the fall occurred. At Clyde & Wood, we have handled a very large number of premises liability claims including falls on ice, dangerous stairways, falls caused by defects in parking lots, slippery and wet floors in restaurants and stores, as well as falls caused by large uneven cracks in sidewalks. We represent injured people throughout the region, including Missouri and Kansas. If you are injured as the result of a fall, you need to have someone get photos depicting the condition of the premises at the time of your fall if at all possible. Do not talk to representatives of the owner or their insurance company without first consulting legal counsel.

Another interesting aspect of the Kansas “no fault law” relating to car wrecks, is the requirement that you must either sustain a permanent injury, or incur more than $2,000.00 in medical expenses before you can make a claim for pain and suffering.  In other words, unless you have a permanent injury or your medical bills exceed $2,000.00, your recovery for any injuries sustained in the automobile accident will be limited solely to the payment of your medical expenses and any lost earnings. Once you have met the threshold requirement of $2,000.00 or more of medical expenses, or you have been diagnosed with a permanent injury, you can then make a claim against the responsible party for pain, suffering, mental anguish and other non-economic loss.

Although many states have very similar laws, your right to recover payment for medical expenses and other losses will depend on the particular law of the state in which the auto accident occurred.  For example, Missouri insurance policies have “Medical Pay” coverage and not the Personal Injury Protections benefits required in Kansas.  Furthermore, Missouri does not have a threshold requirement of medical expenses which must be incurred before you can make a claim for your pain and suffering.  First and foremost, you should always contact legal counsel as soon as possible to determine your rights and protect your interests if you have been injured in an automobile accident.