Kansas Senate maneuvers to limit business operators’ liability in negligence lawsuits

Sen. Kellie Warren, a Leawood Republican and chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, successfully ushers through the Kansas Senate a bill restraining the ability of people to pursue lawsuits for injuries sustained on another person's property if the harm occurs in association with an alleged felony or certain misdemeanor. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — Sen. Kellie Warren convinced nearly all of her Republican colleagues to vote for a bill undermining the ability of people to recover damages in negligence lawsuits if the injury occurred during “wrongful conduct,” even if the claimant wasn’t cited, arrested, charged, indicted or convicted of a crime.

Provisions of Senate Bill 463 would shield property owners or occupiers in “negligent security” lawsuits from being responsible for damages if the business operator took steps during the previous year to prevent illegal conduct on the premises. The blanket of protection in the bill, passed this week 30-10 by the Kansas Senate, would exist if the individual injured on the premises allegedly participated or attempted to take part in a federal or state felony or certain misdemeanors. The property owner who was sued would bear the burden of proof in terms of criminal intent.

“This bill could be referred to as eliminating criminal profiteering,” Warren said. “The last thing we want is a porch pirate who slips on an icy stoop or a person stealing from a small business who is hurt while making a getaway to be able to turn around and sue.”

Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, said he objected to a provision in the bill enabling property owners or occupiers to sidestep liability if the individual making a claim was merely suspected of wrongful conduct. He asked whether a person injured in the crash of a vehicle, which contained marijuana illegal in Kansas, would be blocked from gaining traction in a civil suit alleging negligence by the owner or occupier of property at the accident scene.

Warren, a Leawood Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said possession of marijuana would be relevant only if directly linked to negligent acts. She said a fundamental tenant of law was ignorance of a statute couldn’t be an excuse in court.

At Warren’s request, the Senate amended the bill to strike a section that would have forbidden noneconomic damages to an individual without legal authorization to be in the United States and who was injured due to negligence of another person in a vehicle accident.

Think tank advocacy

Warren said the bill was recommended to the Senate by representatives of Varidon Strategies in Overland Park. The lobbying firm is associated with the Alliance for Consumers Action Fund based in Washington, D.C. The executive director of Consumers Action Fund has urged the 2026 Legislature to pass a package of bills offering a “principled and practical solution to the threat of ideological lawfare.”

The Senate’s negligence bill was opposed by the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association based on a belief it created ambiguity in state law. The bill also was opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Protecting Kansas Children from Sexual Predators.

Sen. Ethan Corson, a Fairway Democrat running for governor, objected to Senate’s endorsement of the Consumers Action Fund bill.

“I have a huge frustration with these bills that are brought by out-of-state think tanks with no connection to Kansas,” Corson said. “They’re about issues that don’t really effect us.”

O.H. Skinner, executive director of the Consumers Action Fund and a former Arizona solicitor general, said the bill was important because crime had become a “policy tool that is seemingly favored by left-wing activists and their allies, with criminals and wrongdoers receiving prioritization in many respects at the expense of crime victims and those whose lives are disrupted and made worse by the increasing crime in many left-wing jurisdictions.”

Skinner said it was time for lawmakers to act when property were stolen from front porches without consequence and when city streets weren’t safe enough for people to shop in stores. He said part of the answer was a Kansas law that guaranteed wrongful conduct couldn’t be the basis for suing a person for negligence at a home, business or other property.

“The bill reflects a simple principle,” he said. “A person engaged in a criminal or wrongful conduct cannot sue for injuries arising from that same conduct.”

Unintended consequence

Corson said Skinner was asked why a person from Arizona was pushing a D.C. organization’s bill in Kansas. Corson characterized Skinner’s reply as Kansas was generally receptive to consideration of ghostwritten, think tank bills.

In addition, Corson said, the Senate should be focused on legislation supporting law enforcement officers and prosecutors or that delved into the fentanyl poisoning crisis.

“I wholeheartedly reject that statement, that proposition,” said Warren, who warned that senators ought to respect standards of decorum during debate.

Sen. Cindy Holscher, an Overland Park Democrat who is also running for governor, said the bill was flawed because it would prevent victims of sexual abuse from bringing civil cases against alleged perpetrators on the grounds of negligent security. She said Kansas attorneys in the field expressed concern “the bill as written would protect pedophiles.”

“I just don’t think that’s reading the bill right,” Warren said.

The bill was sent to the Kansas House despite opposition from Senate’s nine Democrats and GOP Sen. Kenny Titus, a lawyer from Wamego.