Kahana Feld Secures Client Dismissal and Recovery of Defense Costs in Texas Premises Liability Matter 

Kahana Feld partner Elliott Wright and attorney Denisse Peña secured a favorable result for their client in a Texas premises liability matter by obtaining the client’s dismissal from the lawsuit without any settlement payment and subsequently enforcing contractual defense and indemnity provisions to recover the client’s litigation costs.  

The lawsuit arose from allegations that a customer sustained injuries in the common areas of a commercial shopping center. After securing the retailer’s dismissal, Kahana Feld conducted a detailed analysis of the governing commercial lease and determined that the landlord retained exclusive responsibility for the operation, maintenance, and repair of the common areas. The lease also required the landlord to defend and indemnify the retailer for claims arising from those areas. 

Based on that analysis, Kahana Feld pursued enforcement of the lease’s risk-transfer provisions, ultimately securing the landlord’s agreement to reimburse the retailer’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and defense costs. 

“Successfully defending a lawsuit is only part of the job,” Wright said. “When commercial contracts allocate responsibility to another party, attorneys should ensure those obligations are fully enforced. Our objective is not simply to win the case, but to maximize our client’s contractual rights and deliver the best possible business outcome.” 

The result highlights the importance of evaluating contractual risk-transfer provisions throughout the course of litigation. By leveraging the governing lease after securing the client’s dismissal, Kahana Feld not only eliminated the client’s exposure to the underlying claim but also shifted the financial burden of the defense to the party contractually responsible for the area where the alleged incident occurred.