Kelley Kronenberg Reduces Seven-Figure Wrongful Death Demand by More Than 70%
Kelley Kronenberg Partner/Business Unit Leader Justin England, Partner Michael Roos, and Attorney Garrett Bruner achieved a settlement of approximately $275,000.00 for their mobile home park client in Harris County, Texas—reducing a demand exceeding $1,000,000.00 by over 70% in a wrongful death premises liability case.
The case arose from an October 2022 shooting in which decedent was killed by two individuals at the client’s mobile home park. The estate filed suit alleging negligence, gross negligence, premises liability, and respondeat superior, claiming a defective security gate allowed the assailants entry onto the premises. The estate sought damages exceeding $1,000,000.00.
The venue created significant challenges. Harris County is often perceived as being notoriously plaintiff-friendly, with summary judgment increasingly difficult to win. The case was assigned to a Democratic judge in a county that leans Democratic. Opposing counsel were experienced plaintiff’s attorneys with over $54 million in verdicts and settlements.
Justin, Michael, and Garrett developed a defense strategy centered on three key facts undermining the estate’s theory.
First, the gate was never intended as a security measure. The client had contracted for traffic control gates designed to prevent speeding through the park—not to prevent criminal entry. The construction remained incomplete at the time of the shooting.
Second, the decedent wasn’t listed as a tenant. The lease identified only the plaintiff as lessee. The decedent was living at the property without authorization, violating the lease agreement.
Third, no evidence suggested a functioning gate would have prevented this targeted attack. Traffic control gates accessible by residents with codes wouldn’t deter determined criminals intent on murder.
Additionally, the decedent’s criminal history involving drug possession charges raised questions about whether the shooting resulted from activities unrelated to any alleged security deficiency.
The team successfully designated unknown criminal assailants and the gate installation company as responsible third parties, allowing fault allocation to the actual perpetrators and the company whose delays affected construction completion.
After depositions and expert designations, Justin engaged in settlement discussions. He emphasized the gates were traffic control devices, not security measures; the shooting was a targeted attack no gate would have prevented; and the decedent had no legal right to be living there.
Through strategic negotiation, our team achieved a favorable settlement—well below the potential exposure in a wrongful death case in a plaintiff-friendly venue. The settlement eliminated exposure to exemplary damages on the gross negligence claim and avoided the substantial costs and uncertainty of trial.
This resolution demonstrates the value of early, aggressive case development. By establishing the targeted, intentional nature of the attack—evidenced by the criminal charges against the assailants—the team successfully argued that the assailants’ determination to gain entry would have defeated any security measures the property could have implemented. This crucial point, combined with demonstrating the gates’ traffic control purpose, and the decedent’s unauthorized presence, made the estate’s million-dollar demand untenable.
For property owners facing premises liability claims from third-party criminal acts, this case reinforces a critical principle: when assailants demonstrate criminal intent sufficient to warrant criminal charges, their determination to commit the offense can be leveraged to strategically argue that no security measure can be reasonably expected to prevent entry by criminals resolved to carry out their planned attack.
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