Practice Areas & Industries

Premises and Retail Liability

The lawyers that make up the Premises and Retail Liability practice group have on average over 20 years experience representing landowners and businesses in cases ranging from a fall on the premises to violent crimes. This practice group represents some of the largest retail chains in the Midwest, as well as many of the major shopping centers and landlords in the St. Louis region. As Associate Members of the National Retail Federation, Brown & James keeps a finger on the pulse of the retail industry.

The lawyers in this practice group have to their credit the leading appellate court decisions in the State of Missouri outlining the duties and responsibilities of landowners to their business invitees. These cases include the general duty of a landowner or business owner to tenants and business invitees on the premises, and the duty of a business invitee to protect invitees on the premises from the third-party acts of criminals.

Brown & James has used pre-trial motions successfully in obtaining dismissals of cases that, if allowed to go to a jury, would have exposed owners and occupiers to multi-million dollar verdicts. Our lawyers are demanding in requiring the claimant to establish a legal duty on the part of the landowner, and as a result of this knowledgeable legal handling of these cases, the law has generally become favorable on behalf of landowners in Missouri.

The types of cases that are handled for major landowners and businesses in the Midwest include false arrests, malicious prosecution, slip and falls, injuries, death and sexual assaults on invitees while on the premises. The firm represents other organizations and entities in a variety in multitude of other types of suits, such as the defense of day care centers and youth camps related to allegations of failure to supervise and sexual molestation by employees of the owner.