Kansas Statutes 60-4905. Same; premises owner liability
Terms Used In Kansas Statutes 60-4905
- Asbestos: means all minerals defined as asbestos in 29 C. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Employee: means an individual who performs labor or provides construction services pursuant to a construction contract as defined in Kan. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
- Established safety standard: means , that for the years after 1971, the concentration of silica or mixed dust in the breathing zone of the workers does not exceed the maximum allowable exposure limits for the eight-hour-time weighted average airborne concentration as promulgated by the occupational safety and health administration (OSHA) in effect at the time of the alleged exposure. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- Premises owner: means a person who owns, in whole or in part, leases, rents, maintains or controls privately owned any land or body of water, or any buildings and structures on those lands or bodies of water, and all privately owned and state-owned lands or bodies of water leased to a private person, firm or organization, including any buildings and structures on those lands, ways or waters. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
- Property: includes personal and real property. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
- Silica: means a respirable crystalline form of silicon dioxide, including, but not limited to, alpha quartz, cristobalite and trydmite. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
The following apply to all civil actions for silica or asbestos claims brought against a premises owner to recover damages or other relief for exposure to silica or asbestos on the premises owner’s property: (a) No premises owner shall be liable for any injury to any individual resulting from silica or asbestos exposure unless such individual’s alleged exposure occurred while the individual was at or near the premises owner’s property.
(b) If exposure to silica or asbestos is alleged to have occurred before January 1, 1972, it is presumed that a premises owner knew that this state had adopted safe levels of exposure for silica or asbestos and that products containing silica or asbestos were used on its property only at levels below those safe levels of exposure. To rebut this presumption, the plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the premises owner knew or should have known that the premises were unreasonably dangerous to invitees and the premises owner allowed that condition to persist.
(c) (1) A premises owner that hired a contractor to perform the type of work at the premises owner’s property that the contractor was qualified to perform cannot be liable for any injury to any individual resulting from silica or asbestos exposure caused by any of the contractor’s employees or agents on the premises owner’s property unless the premises owner directed the activity that resulted in the injury or gave or denied permission for the critical acts that led to the individual’s injury or knowingly allowed a dangerous condition caused by the contractor to persist.
(2) If exposure to silica or asbestos is alleged to have occurred after January 1, 1972, a premises owner shall not be liable for any injury to any individual resulting from that exposure caused by a contractor’s employee or agent on the premises owner’s property unless the plaintiff establishes the premises owner’s violation of an established safety standard that was in effect at the time of the exposure and that the alleged violation was in the plaintiff’s breathing zone and was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s medical condition.