Pedestrian Accident Claims in Kansas

Where traffic signals are not in place or not working, drivers must yield, slowing or stopping if needed, to a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk who is on the driver's half of the road or approaching so closely from the other half as to be in danger, and may not pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk for a pedestrian. A pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb into the path of a vehicle so close as to be an immediate hazard. A pedestrian crossing anywhere other than a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection must yield to all vehicles, may cross only in a marked crosswalk between adjacent signalized intersections, and may not cross diagonally unless traffic-control devices allow it.

Modified comparative negligence (50% bar). An injured party can recover only if his or her negligence was less than the negligence of the party or parties being sued; damages are reduced in proportion to his or her negligence. In a wrongful death case, the deceased person's negligence is imputed to the person claiming damages.

Kansas is a no-fault state. Policies must provide liability coverage of at least $25,000 for injury or death of one person, $50,000 for two or more people in one accident, and $25,000 for property damage (25/50/25), plus personal injury protection, including at least $4,500 in medical benefits. An injured person can sue an at-fault driver for pain, suffering and other non-economic loss only if medical treatment is worth $2,000 or more, or the injury involves permanent disfigurement, certain fractures, loss of a body member, permanent injury, permanent loss of a bodily function, or death.

A lawsuit for injury to the rights of another not arising from a contract (which includes personal injury) must be filed within two years. The time generally starts when the act first causes substantial injury, or when the injury becomes reasonably ascertainable if that is later, but no lawsuit may be filed more than 10 years after the act that caused it.