Did you slip, trip, or fall on someone else’s property in Kansas City? If you are hurt, do not dismiss your injury and do not blame yourself. When a property owner creates or ignores a dangerous condition, they are responsible for the consequences.
Under Kansas premises liability law, property owners have a legal duty to maintain safe conditions and warn visitors of known hazards. If they fail in that duty and you are injured, you may be entitled to compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, pain, and suffering.
At Bretz Injury Law, our Kansas City office serves slip and fall victims across Wyandotte County and the surrounding metro area. We handle every case on a no-win, no-fee basis, so call (913) 361-5510 for a free case evaluation.
Through Personal Loss And Experience, We’ve Learned What Matters Most. Helping Families Find Their Way Forward
Bretz Injury Law represents slip and fall victims throughout Kansas City, KS and the greater Wyandotte County area. Our office at 748 Ann Ave, Suite 114, Kansas City, KS 66101 puts us close to the businesses, commercial properties, and courts where our clients’ cases are built and resolved. When you hire our firm, you are working with premises liability attorneys who understand how Kansas property owners and their insurers fight these claims.
Attorney Matthew Bretz has practiced personal injury law in Kansas for more than 30 years, and he founded this firm on the belief that every injured person deserves real attention from their lawyer. We are an intentionally small firm, so your case will never be handed off to someone you have never met. You will speak directly with the attorney handling your claim, starting with your first phone call.
We offer free consultations to every prospective client, and we handle all slip and fall cases on a contingency fee basis, so you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you. Hablamos español.
Property owners and their insurance companies use aggressive tactics to deny slip and fall claims, and the most effective one in Kansas is the “open and obvious” defense. This argument shifts blame onto you by claiming the hazard was visible and you should have avoided it. Without legal representation, you have very little ability to push back against that defense or the adjuster behind it.
If you feel embarrassed about your fall, you are not alone. Many people blame themselves and assume their injury is not worth pursuing. But embarrassment should never stop you from holding a negligent property owner accountable for a hazard they created or ignored.
When you hire Bretz Injury Law, we move quickly to gather the evidence that makes or breaks these cases. That includes requesting surveillance footage before it is overwritten, obtaining maintenance and inspection logs, photographing the scene, and interviewing witnesses. Acting quickly gives us the best chance to preserve what counts most in your case.
Our attorneys handle slip, trip, and fall cases at every type of property in Kansas City, KS. The location of your fall and the type of hazard involved directly shape how we investigate your claim and who we hold responsible. The types of slip and fall cases we handle include:
We also represent apartment tenants and others injured in trip and fall accidents caused by conditions their landlord knew about and failed to fix.
Kansas premises liability law determines whether you can recover compensation and how much you are allowed to collect. The rules are specific, and they differ from Missouri in ways that can change the outcome of your case entirely.
Under Kansas law, property owners owe the highest duty of care to invitees, which includes customers, tenants, and anyone invited onto the property for the owner’s benefit. That duty requires the owner to inspect the property for hazards, fix dangerous conditions, and warn visitors about risks they cannot immediately address.
To succeed in a Kansas slip and fall claim, you must show that a dangerous condition existed, that the owner knew or should have known about it, that they failed to fix it or warn you, and that the condition caused your injury. Insurance companies fight these claims with specific defenses, and the most dangerous one in Kansas has a name.
The open and obvious defense is the single most common reason Kansas slip and fall claims get denied. Property owners use this argument to claim they owed you no duty to warn because the hazard was visible to a reasonable person. In Kansas, this defense is stronger than in Missouri, where the visibility of a hazard is treated as one factor in a comparative fault analysis rather than a potential bar to recovery.
You can still recover compensation even when a hazard was visible. If the only path to a store entrance crossed an icy patch, or if the property owner created the hazard in the first place, the defense may not hold. A distraction at the time of your fall can also weaken the property owner’s argument.
Kansas follows a modified comparative fault system under K.S.A. 60-258a that sets a hard cutoff for injured individuals. If you are found 50% or more at fault for your fall, you recover nothing. Below that threshold, your compensation is reduced by your share of the blame.
Insurance companies use this rule to argue that you caused your own fall by texting while walking, wearing improper footwear, or ignoring a warning sign. An attorney can investigate the scene, preserve evidence, and counter these blame-shifting tactics before the insurer builds a case against you.
The state where your fall happened determines which laws apply, and the differences between Kansas and Missouri are significant. Kansas imposes a two-year statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits under K.S.A. 60-513, compared to five years in Missouri. The fault rules are just as different: Kansas bars your recovery at 50% fault, while Missouri allows you to recover even if you were 99% responsible.
For people injured in falls in the Kansas City metro, this distinction can be case-determinative. Filing in the wrong state or missing the shorter Kansas deadline can cost you your entire claim. An attorney can evaluate which jurisdiction gives you the strongest path to recovery.
Slip and fall accidents in Kansas City occur most often at commercial properties and on outdoor walking surfaces where property owners have failed to address known hazards. The National Safety Council reports that nearly 9 million Americans visit emergency rooms every year because of slip, trip, and fall injuries, and a significant portion of those falls happen at businesses, apartment complexes, and public spaces.
In Wyandotte County, the combination of aging commercial infrastructure, high-traffic retail corridors, and harsh winter weather creates conditions that lead to preventable falls throughout the year.
Kansas City winters produce ice, snow, and freeze-thaw cycles that make sidewalks, steps, and parking lots dangerous for months at a time. Under Kansas law, property owners are not required to clear ice and snow while a storm is still in progress. Once the storm ends and a reasonable amount of time passes, however, the duty of ordinary care requires them to address the hazard.
Courts look at how much time elapsed after the storm, whether the owner knew about the condition, and what steps a reasonable person would have taken. Partial snow removal that leaves hidden ice patches can actually increase a property owner’s liability.
Grocery stores and retail locations are among the most common settings for slip and fall injuries in Kansas City. Spills from leaking coolers, produce mister overspray, freshly mopped floors without warning signs, and loose floor mats create hazards that employees may not catch for minutes or longer.
Kansas law requires store owners to maintain regular inspection schedules and address hazards within a reasonable time. If a store cannot show that it followed its own posted inspection procedures, that gap can establish constructive notice, meaning the store should have discovered the hazard through ordinary care and failed to do so.
Potholes, cracked asphalt, uneven curbs, raised expansion joints, and poor drainage cause outdoor falls across Kansas City throughout the year. Commercial property owners are responsible for maintaining safe walking surfaces in their lots and on adjacent sidewalks, and neglecting those surfaces can create liability for any injuries that result. If your parking lot fall involved a vehicle, our Kansas City car accident attorneys can also evaluate that claim.
Falls on government-owned sidewalks or public walkways are handled differently. Kansas requires claims against government entities to follow the Kansas Tort Claims Act (K.S.A. 75-6101 et seq.), which imposes shorter notice deadlines and specific filing procedures. Missing those deadlines can eliminate your right to recover entirely.
The evidence that proves a slip and fall case can disappear quickly, so the steps you take right after your fall are just as important as anything that happens later. If you are able to, follow this sequence as closely as possible:
Slip and fall accidents cause everything from bruises and sprains to permanent disability and death. Broken bones are among the most common outcomes, particularly hip fractures in older adults.
A hip fracture in a 70-year-old is not the same recovery as in a 30-year-old. For many elderly victims, that single injury can mean the permanent loss of independence, the need for full-time care, and a sharp decline in overall health.
Falls are also the leading cause of traumatic brain injury in the United States, according to the CDC. A concussion from hitting your head on a hard floor can affect memory, concentration, and mood for months or longer. Other common fall injuries include torn ligaments, spinal cord damage, herniated discs, shoulder and knee injuries requiring surgery, sprains, lacerations, and scarring.
We understand how overwhelming it can be to face a serious injury after something that happened in seconds. You do not have to deal with this on your own.
Kansas law allows slip and fall victims to recover damages for the full range of losses caused by a negligent property owner. The value of your claim depends on the severity of your injuries, how long your recovery takes, and whether your injuries will require ongoing medical care.
Economic damages cover your current and future medical bills, surgery, physical therapy, rehabilitation, lost wages, and any reduction in your ability to earn income going forward. Non-economic damages compensate you for physical pain, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of independence.
In cases where a fall results in death, surviving family members may pursue wrongful death damages. Property owners and their insurers often pressure victims into accepting a quick slip and fall settlement before the full extent of their injuries is known. Having an attorney review any offer protects you from accepting less than your case is worth.
Attorney Matthew Bretz founded this firm after a preventable accident took his 16-year-old sister’s life. That personal loss drives the way we approach every case, including yours. With more than 30 years of experience and over $300 million recovered for injured clients across Kansas, our team is ready to fight for you.
Evidence in slip and fall cases can disappear quickly, so contacting an attorney early protects your claim. Call us at (913) 361-5510 or reach out to our team online to schedule your free case evaluation. You pay nothing unless we win.
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