A personal injury lawsuit is a legal action taken by someone who has been injured (physically, emotionally, or psychologically) due to the negligence or wrongful actions of another person, company, or entity. The goal of a lawsuit is typically to secure compensation for the victim’s damages, which may include medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other related expenses.

Mediation is a common way parties try to resolve a dispute before it results in a formal lawsuit or goes to trial. This often involves getting the parties together in the same building (not usually the same room) with a mediator (an uninvolved third party, often a lawyer). The mediator does not decide the case or make rulings like a judge but rather listens to what the parties have to say about their claims and helps them come to an agreement/settlement.

Attorney-client privilege is a strict legal protection that exists between an attorney and client. This privilege extends to attorney-client communications and prevents these communications from being disclosed publicly or in legal settings. The privilege’s purpose is to encourage open and honest communication between an attorney and client to ensure that clients seeking legal advice can do so without fear that their communications will be used against them or will become public information. This allows for clients to be fully honest with their attorneys and ensures that attorneys are provided with all of the information necessary to best understand and aid their client. 

If the injuries are limited to property damage or minor personal injuries, you may not need a lawyer.  However, if the injuries require medical treatment, it is advisable to consult with a lawyer.  An experienced lawyer will help you evaluate your claim and determine the best course of action. And because time is often of the essence, it is best to get the lawyer involved as early as possible.  

When mediation is successful, the parties have reached an agreement on how to resolve their dispute. Typically, the mediator will draft the agreement, and the parties will sign it.  At that point, the parties have a contract about how they agreed to end the dispute.  That contract is legally binding and can be enforced in court if either party fails to comply. 

It will cost you nothing until we win your case.  We operate on a contingency fee basis.  Our “no fee” guarantee means you only pay if you win.  

In a personal injury lawsuit, you may be entitled to various types of damages (monetary compensation) depending on the nature and extent of your injuries and losses. These damages generally fall into two broad categories: (1) Economic Damages (past and future medical expenses, past and future wage loss, property damages, out-of-pocket expenses) and (2) Non-Economic Damages (pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, disfigurement or disability).  

Attorney-client privilege covers communication between a client and his or her attorney made confidentially regardless of the method of communication. Phone calls, email, letters, face-to-face conversations are all covered so long as these communications are confidentially shared between the attorney and the client - and are not shared or discussed with a third party. There are caveats to the legal privilege that extends the privilege to conversations between a client, his or her attorney, and a third party. Such instances are rare, and one should lean on the side of caution when speaking with their attorney in the presence of a third party - as the privilege can be waived if the client discloses the privileged information to a third party or puts the privileged information at issue in a legal proceeding. Always defer to your lawyer to determine whether attorney-client privilege exists.  

Last week the Kansas Court of Appeals answered a question that’s been lurking in planning offices for years: how do you count property held by co-owners when you’re totaling signatures on a zoning “protest petition”?

Prairiewood Holdings, LLC v. Board of Riley County Commissioners, No. 127,166 (Kan. Ct. App. July 11 2025)

Quick refresher:  Under K.S.A. 12-757, if owners of 20 percent of the land within 1,000 feet of a parcel sign a protest petition, a county commission must approve the rezoning by a ¾ supermajority. That percentage is calculated by acreage, not headcount.

The knotty question:  What if Tract A is owned 50/50 by siblings Alice and Bob as tenants-in-common, and only Alice signs? Do you count:
 1. the entire tract (because Alice is an owner of record), or
 2. only Alice’s half (because Bob didn’t sign)?

The court’s answer: Count only the signing owner’s proportional share. “When a protesting owner is a tenant in common or joint tenant, acreage proportionate to that owner’s undivided interest is credited toward the 20 percent.”

In Prairiewood, the county credited just 14.26 of a 28.52-acre tract because only one co-owner signed. Without that reduction the petition would have crossed 20 percent; with it, the protest failed and the rezoning stood.

Why it matters:
 • Predictability for planners & developers – Staff now have a bright-line rule when certifying petitions.
 • Fairness to non-signing co-owners – Your acreage isn’t “commandeered” into a protest you never joined.
 • Strategic filing – Petition circulators must chase every cotenant’s signature—or do the math to see if they can win without it.

Kansas Court of Appeals (Gould v. Crawley, July 2025) just reminded us:

 • A broad release (“all claims … arising out of the action”) sweeps in law-firm fee requests—even ones based on discovery fights.
 • Courts keep jurisdiction to award fees after a case is dismissed, but only if the settlement leaves that door open.
 • No carve-out = no post-deal fee motion. 

Practical tip: When you draft a settlement, spell out whether sanctions / Rule 11 / discovery-cost claims survive. Otherwise, they’re gone the moment the dismissal hits the docket.

A will is a legal document that outlines how you want your assets distributed after your death, but it must go through probate, a court-supervised process. Generally, a trust lets you place assets into a legal entity managed by a trustee, allowing them to be distributed without going through probate, often more quickly and privately. Trusts can also take effect during your lifetime, while a will only takes effect after you die.

A living will is a document that outlines your medical treatment preferences if you become incapacitated and unable to communicate, such as whether you want life-sustaining measures like ventilators or feeding tubes. In contrast, a last will (or last will and testament) directs how your assets should be distributed after your death. Simply put, a living will applies while you are alive but unable to decide for yourself, whereas a last will applies after you have passed away.

Typically, when the parties agree to a mediation, they also agree to share the cost of the mediator.  However, mediation offers flexibility, so the final mediated agreement between the parties could specify a different method for the mediator’s fee to be paid.

The best aspect of mediation is that the parties have control over the outcome.  During mediation, the parties can work out a solution that they can agree upon.  During traditional litigation, parties must live with the decision made by the judge or jury.  Additionally, because the parties can engage in mediation at any time, they can resolve the matter more quickly and possibly at a lower expense.

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) refers to a process that resolves a dispute in a manner other than through a formal trial in a courtroom. The most common forms of ADR are mediation and arbitration.  In mediation, the parties are encouraged to reach a joint resolution; the mediator does not decide the case but instead guides the parties through their issues.  In arbitration, the parties agree to be bound by the arbitrator's decision; the arbitrator is neutral and determines how to resolve the issue after hearing from both sides. 

A “settlement” is an agreement reached outside of court between the injured party (plaintiff) and the at-fault party (defendant), usually through their insurance company. If you settle your case, it is because you agreed to specific terms.  Settlement allows the parties to retain control, is usually quicker than going to trial, and provides a final resolution.  If you “go to trial”, the case is presented to a judge or jury, who then decides liability and the amount of your damages.  Trials are typically a matter of public record and often take years to be resolved.  While juries can sometimes award more than what was offered in a settlement, the outcome is uncertain. At trial, you could win more or less than was offered in settlement — you could win nothing at all.  A trial will give the parties their “day in court,” but they lose control over the outcome.

EEOC v. Genesh, Inc., No. 24-2445-DDC-ADM (D. Kan. July 7, 2025)
 
What happened? A Burger King supervisor allegedly groomed and sexually assaulted an employee when she was 15. She and the EEOC are now suing the restaurant’s owner for sexual harassment. The young woman recently turned 18, so the normal rule would reveal her full name in all future filings.

The ruling: Judge Angel Mitchell said the plaintiff may continue as “L.Z.”—even though she is now an adult—because:
 1. Highly sensitive subject. Sexual abuse of a minor is “exceptional,” and courts routinely       shield identities in such cases.
 2. Risk of further harm. Public exposure could amplify the very emotional injuries the suit seeks to address.
 3. Little public need. The defendant already knows who she is, and open-court principles are satisfied by revealing the facts, not the victim’s name.

The court left open whether anonymity should continue if the case reaches a jury trial, but for all pre-trial stages, L.Z. stays anonymous.

Why it matters: Victims can still pursue justice without losing control over their privacy—especially when the alleged misconduct happened during childhood.

Background: Kansas nonprofits often send voters advance-ballot applications already filled with the voter’s name and address to make it easier to request a mail ballot. In 2021, the Legislature added a final line to K.S.A. 25-1122(k)(2) aimed squarely at that practice:
“No portion of such application shall be completed prior to mailing such application to the registered voter.”

Ruling: Judge Kathryn Vratil held that this sentence violates the First Amendment. It is a content-based speech restriction targeting groups that promote mail voting, and it is not narrowly tailored—existing anti-fraud tools already address the State’s concerns. The court permanently barred enforcement of that sentence. Of course, this is a district court decision which a party could appeal.

In Maxwell v. College Hills Opco, LLC, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126044 (D. Kan. July 2, 2025), the court denied a motion to compel internal CASPER reports used in a nursing home’s quality assurance process.

Even though the reports were emailed internally, Judge Birzer held they remained protected under Kansas peer review and quality assurance privileges. In camera review confirmed they qualified.

Kansas law imposes caps on three main types of damages. Importantly, if comparative fault is found, the plaintiff’s percentage of fault is applied to reduce the damages before the statutory cap is applied.

• Non-Economic Damages in Wrongful Death Cases:
A wrongful death claim is brought by the heirs of a deceased person to recover for their own losses. Non-economic damages — such as bereavement and loss of companionship — are capped at $250,000 per death, regardless of the number of heirs. The judge apportions the recovery among the heirs.

• Damages Against Municipalities:
In tort claims against municipalities, total damages are capped at $500,000 or the amount of insurance the municipality has purchased, whichever is greater.

• Punitive Damages:
Punitive damages are capped at the lesser of the defendant’s highest annual gross income for the five years before the misconduct or $5 million. If the defendant’s misconduct was especially profitable, the cap can instead be 1.5 times the amount of the profit.