Court Opinion

ID: 9570291
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:22:06.085723+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:05:35.643866
License: Public Domain

Prager, J.,
concurring and dissenting: I concur in the result in this case and approve the decision of the majority adopting the active negligence exception to the common-law premises liability doctrine. I respectfully dissent, however, as to Syllabus ¶ 1, which approves and confirms as the law of Kansas the traditional common law doctrine of premises liability based upon the status of the party injured or damaged as a trespasser, licensee, or invitee. I believe that, as to invitees and licensees, this court in this case should abolish the status classification system and establish the standard that a land occupier’s duty to all persons who come upon the premises with his consent is to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances. This was the basis for my concurring and dissenting opinions in Mercer v. Fritts, 236 Kan. 73, 74, 689 P.2d 774 (1984); Britt v. Allen County Community Jr. College, 230 Kan. 502, 510, 638 P.2d 914 (1982); and Gerchberg v. Loney, 223 Kan. 446, 455, 576 P.2d 593 (1978).
The rule adopted in this case will help in providing a remedy by due course of law to social guests and other licensees who are injured as the result of the active negligence of the possessor of the premises. However, the rule does not go far enough in that it fails to abolish the antiquated and unjust status classification system or premises doctrine.
Herd, J., joins in the foregoing concurring and dissenting opinion.
McFarland, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part: I concur with Syllabus ¶¶ 1 and 2 and corresponding portions of the opinion. I dissent from Syllabus ¶¶ 3, 4, and 5 and the balance of the opinion.