Missouri Injury Law Blog

Missouri personal injury premise liability for criminal acts arises when there is (1) a "special relationship or circumstances" between the landowner and the personal injury victim, (2) personal injury resulting from a criminal act of a 3rd party, and (3) causation, i.e. the criminal act would have likely been prevented with proper security. At the end of this article are several examples of St Louis personal injury 3rd party criminal act cases. Also, see St Louis premise liability injury lawyer - Faulty security - woman raped in own apartment.

(1) Special Relationship or Circumstances:

As stated above, for a Missouri personal injury claim based on landowner liability for the criminal act of another, there must be a special relationship or circumstances between the landowner and the victim. The special circumstances or relationship are decided by the court, not the jury, and are based on the facts and circumstances of each case.

Examples of how a special relationship established between apartment owner and tenant or guest for a Missouri personal injury claim for injuries arising from third party criminal act:

(A) Landlord made contractual or other representations or assurances to the tenant concerning security;
(B) Landlord had notice of potential danger because there have been previous instances of crimes of similar character on the premises;
(C) Landlord exposed the tenant to an enhanced risk of crime, and the landlord had notice of the risk due to the past instances of crime;
(D) Landlord retained the right to exclusive control of the security mechanism (i.e. outer security doors, window locks, other reasonable and ordinary security measures.)
(E) Landlord was negligent in maintaining the door and lock through which Plaintiff’s assailants gained access to her residence.

Missouri injury cases discussing special relationship or circumstances:

Stubbs v. Panek, 829 S.W.2d 544 (Mo Ct App. W.D. 1992)
Missouri personal injury case for third party criminal act involving a landlord/tenant relationship. A duty existed as the landlord retained the right to control the security door and was notified of its need for repair.

Brown v National Supermarkets Inc., 679 S.W.2d 307 (Mo. Ct App. E.D. 1984)
St Louis personal injury lawsuit for third party criminal act and injury occurring in business parking lot.

Vittengal v. Fox, 967 S.W.2d 269 (Mo App W.D. 1998)
Missouri personal injury claim from third party criminal act, in this case the court of appeals decided no special relationship was established based on the facts of the case and landowner was not liable for assault. I agree with this case finding, the landowner simply could not be expected to prevent this criminal act, under the facts of the case the Missouri personal injury lawyer simply could not plead facts proving there was faulty security or other negligence by the landlord.

Aaron v Havens, 758 S.W.2d 446 (Mo 1998)
St Louis personal injury case wherein the court found a special relationship because the fire escape allowed a criminal to climb up to a window and balcony doors, both which had faulty latches and locks. There was evidence that the landlord had knowledge of these conditions and failed to act.

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As discussed in an earlier Missouri injury Law blog article, we represent victims of 3rd party criminal action when the criminal was allowed to attack the victim as a result of faulty security or safety measures of the property owner. One such St Louis injury case arises from the rape of a young woman because of faulty security doors at her apartment. See - St Louis Personal Injury Rape Lawsuit arising from Faulty Security by Apartment Complex Owner.

These cases are egregious especially when the injury could have been avoided by simply repairing faulty security doors or doing simple other preventative measures. Recently, a jury returned a verdict of $54 million ($5 million compensatory damages and $49 million punitive) resulting from the rape a a patient at a health services company. This amount may seem excessive, however, the victim will never collect anything near that amount. But what that verdict did do was send a message to large corporations that they need to be concerned about the safety and security of the "little people".

Other sample cases similar to our St Louis rape and personal injury lawsuit are discussed in the Missouri personal injury blog article linked to above.

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Currently, I am handling a St Louis personal injury premise liability and negligent maintenance/security case arising from an apartment complex owner or manager's complete failure to maintain and repair outer security doors of the apartment buildings in the complex. The failure to keep these doors operable allowed several assailants to walk right into the apartment building, kick in the inner door to my client's apartment (which is a flimsy wood door) and proceed to rob and brutally rape her at gun point.

Apartment complexes are places that are often open to the public, thus, the apartment property owner has an obligation to provide a safe environment. Especially when the area is a known high crime area. We pulled the St Louis County police records that indicated over 200 calls to 911 from the apartment complex reporting crimes occurring there. Of those, there were about a dozen violent crimes that occurred in the year prior to our client becoming a victim to sexual assault, including two reported rapes. This is direct evidence that the apartment owner or managers knew or should have known about the potential danger, thus putting them on legal notice to substantiate a Missouri personal injury claim based on premise liability and negligent maintenance or security.

Apartment complex owners have a legal obligation to maintain the property in a safe condition, to protect their renters from personal injury. Common injuries include burglary, robbery, parking lot rape, sexual assaults, and murder that result from inadequate or negligent security.

Most shocking was that almost all of the building in the complex had defective, unmaintained, and just plain inoperative security doors. I walked through the entire complex and several residents showed me how easily their young children could just pull on the security doors and they would open or the doors were in such disrepair that the locking mechanism was missing entirely or would not latch to the door frame.

Premise Liability - Negligent Security at Apartment - $9 Million Verdict
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Negligent security at apartment complex, rape in parking lot - $2.5 Million settlement.
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My Missouri personal injury client, Kathy, is a self made small business owner who was injured as the result of a dangerous condition on the premises of Lowe's back in July 2007. She incurred personal injury to her knee and incurred $15,000 in medical bills as a result of Lowe's negligence under Missouri injury law. Our Missouri personal injury law experience and expertise helped secure a $60,000 settlement for Kathy, 4 times the amount of her medical bills.

Kathy was what Missouri personal injury attorneys call a "business invitee" on Lowe's’ premises, thus raising the standard of care as the premises is open to the public for business purposes. Kathy was caused to slip and fall due to an unreasonably dangerous condition on Lowe's’ property, specifically, standing water on the concrete floor. Moreover, not only was there standing water but the Missouri injury liability was aggravated because there was organic soot and plant food in the water, making the concrete excessively slick as compared to just water on concrete. Additionally, this condition was located across the entrance to the nursery section at Lowe's, an obvious high foot traffic area.

As you can see in the picture, the saw cut between the Lowe’s entry and exit gate is full of a black substance, that is organic grunge; additionally, the water between the gates has this same organic material under it as this is drain off from the plants being watered, thus carrying dissolved plant food and minerals that make the concrete floor incredibly slick.

Also, you can see there is a crack in the concrete which creates about a ½ inch lip, Kathy slid on the water (you can see several slip marks in the picture) full of the organic material and then she hit the lip causing her knee to twist and her resultant fall and injuries. Lastly, there were no warning cones present, where they should have been, instead they were off to the side behind a counter.

The premise was within the exclusive control of Lowe's and it was held open to the public for business invitee access. Therefore, Lowe's owed Kathy the highest degree of care under Missouri personal injury law to keep the premises in a safe condition and to regularly inspect it to guarantee invitee safety.

Additional info on Missouri Premise Liability Law as written by a Missouri personal injury lawyer.

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In Missouri, premises liability refers to the legal liability imposed on property owners for allowing an unreasonably dangerous condition to exist on the property which results in personal injury. Under Missouri injury law, business property owners owe a higher legal standard of care than private property owners. In Missouri commercial or business property owners have a duty to make the property safe and to reasonable inspect the property to make sure there are no hidden defects that could be dangerous. In Missouri, private property owners are only liable for dangerous conditions they know about or should have known about.

A victim of such a defective condition and resultant injury hired me as her Missouri personal injury lawyer and we recently settled her slip and fall case resulting from a Missouri personal injury incident occurring on 6/30/2004. My client was a business invitee at a gas station in Sullivan Missouri, she was caused to slip and fall due to an unreasonably dangerous condition, under Missouri injury law, on the gas station's property, specifically standing water in the bathroom. The bathroom was within the exclusive control of the gas station owner and it was held open to the public for business invitee access. Therefore, the gas station owed my client the highest degree of care under Missouri law to keep the bathroom in a safe condition and to regularly inspect it to guarantee invitees’ safety.

When my client entered the bathroom she immediately slipped and fell, noticing that not only were her pants wet from the fall but there was standing water that she slipped in, the bathroom was very dirty, and there was indication of a lot of foot traffic through the bathroom. This indicates that the bathroom had not been maintained for several hours. This fact was admitted later in discovery after we filed a Missouri personal injury lawsuit in Franklin County, Missouri.

The gas station owner failed to reasonably inspect the bathroom as they admitted they did not regularly clean the bathroom and there was evidence that the water was from a known leak under the sink. The insurance company would only offer $12,000 to settle the case until after we filed a Missouri personal injury lawsuit and pushed the case towards a trial, the insurance company settled for $41,000.

My client incurred a serious personal injury to her ankle requiring a little less than $10,000 in medical treatment. Initially the insurance company would not offer any more than $8,000 stating my client should have watched where she was walking and that the fall was her own fault. Upon filing the Missouri personal injury claim the offer increased to $12,000. Still way too little, the bathroom was a dark, dirty bathroom, with a known water leak in it, clearly, the business owner was liable. There was no rug, warning sign, or repair done to protect the public from the slippery condition created by the known water leak.

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Missouri Injury Lawyer - Premises Liability and Personal Injury Information Page

A recent Missouri escalator injury case. My client, a patron of Harrah's Casino, was on the escalator when the machinery caught her pant leg pulling her down and causing serious injury to her knee. The escalator pulled down with extreme force as there were no or faulty emergency stops or other important safety features in place to prevent this type of incident.

My client has suffered a torn meniscus cartilage in her knee, requiring surgery, along with other traumatic injury. She has been forced to incur over $20,0000 in medical bills to date along with several months of lost income due to the inability to perform her employment duties. Additionally, she has past and future pain and suffering damages as well as future medical expenses and limitations on her income.

The exact cause of the incident and what specific safety features would have prevented the injury are yet to be determined and likely the opinion of an escalator safety and operations expert will ultimately have to determine the specific cause. However, it is without doubt that my client was not at fault, and either Harrah's improperly maintained the escalator or Otis Elevator Company, the manufacturer of the escalator, improperly or negligently manufactured, installed, or maintained the escalator.

Regardless of the exact party at fault, there was a dangerous condition on the premises that resulted in injury to my client and she is entitled to compensation for her general, specific, and actual damages.

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Kathy, a successful self employed business owner, suffered personal injury as the result fo a dangerous condition at the premises of the Lowe's garden center in Rolla Missouri. She often visits the garden center as she runs a landscaping company. It is common for there to be standing water, however, there was standing water that was different this day and there was no warning of the dangerous condition. When the plants are given food through a liquid solution it makes the water particularly slippery, much more so than typical standing water. Lowes failed to put up signs informing patrons of this condition and therefore Kathy had no notice of this condition despite the fact she knew she was stepping into standing water.

Upon stepping into this unmarked and dangerous condition Kathy fell and injured her knee and hamstring. Currently she is being treated for a torn meniscus cartilage in her knee, torn hamstring, and other injuries to her knee.

Personal injury lawyers know the issues presented by this case and many premise liability cases in Missouri are (1) Was there a dangerous condition, (2) notice of the condition, constructive or actual, (3) duty to make safe; (4) damages; and (5) comparative fault of the injured party, i.e. was the condition "open and obvious". Particularly in this case the first defense reaction will be that she saw the water and knew she was stepping into it so she is partially at fault. Not the case here! This was not typical water, but water infused with plant food making it very slick as compared to normal standing water. This is a condition that Lowe's generally marks with signs, but did not on this occasion.

In this case, Lowe's breached their duty to inspect and make their premises safe for business customers (a higher duty than private property not for the operation of a business) by failing to mark a known dangerous condition that was not open and obvious as it appears to be regular water.

This is a case were I feel it is reasonable to demand payment based on Lowe's being 100% at fault and not apportioning any fault to Kathy as the fact that water was there was open and obvious, but the nature of this water was not open and obvious.

In the past, Sansone Law, LLC has recovered for many clients that have been injured as a result of unreasonably dangerous conditions on a business premises. For examples, see our sample verdicts.

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Recent wrongful death case that may be filed as either a Missouri or Illinois lawsuit is the result of a December 2006 fatal accident of our client's late husband when fell to his death when working on a water tower. The possible defective clip to his safety harness failed to close and secure him as debris from welding builds up in the closing mechanism. Allegedly, the employer, Phoenix Fabricators, failed to replace the safety equipment, additionally, the safety clip itself may have been poorly designed or malfunctioned.

Its a disturbing case to me especially considering his death could have been prevented by taking the required safety measures. OSHA has issued several citations to Phoenix Fabricators based on their continued failure to follow safety measures.

These tank workers have high risk jobs and they deserve the proper safety equipment. Below is a link to an article talking about the dangers of the job and the experiences of several workers for Phoenix Fabricators.

General Article about Water Tank Workers

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Negligence by school and its employees when my client, a 6 year old boy, was on the school playground when he fell from the monkey bars and severely sprained his wrist. The school was liable because they failed to properly supervise the boy and they failed to have a safe surface under the monkey bars.

The parents were responsible for about 2k in medical bills and their son had symptoms and problems with his wrist and forearm for several months. The boy fully recovered but was left with a scar on his wrist and months of pain and suffering.

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