Last-minute snowstorm results in settlement in sexual assault liability case

A snowstorm that left the courthouse closed and jurors unable to appear at trial led to a multi-million-dollar settlement the morning a trial was set to begin in this sexual assault liability case.

Nick Hillyard of the Wendt Law Firm in Kansas City represented the anonymous plaintiff and called the stroke of luck a kind of “miracle.”

In 2023, his client was sexually assaulted at her apartment complex after a maintenance worker was hired without a background check and tasked with painting her front door. She had to leave the door open for this task and after painting the door, he entered her apartment and assaulted her.

The defendants in the case included contractor Tip Top Painting, a construction management group, as well as the apartment complex that hired them. Because of the ownership structure of the apartment complex, multiple names appear in the case caption and who actually manages the property versus who owns it remains unclear, Hillyard said.

He noted both the apartment complex and the contractor bear responsibility for the sexual assault and failed in their duties to enact protective policies or conduct background checks.

“Defendant Tip Top had no written policies, practices or procedures regarding hiring, contracting workers, completing background checks, training, supervising workers, interacting with customers/members of public, entering homes or sexual harassment/assault and never supervised independent contractors,” according to Hillyard.

The company hired the man who sexually assaulted Hillyard’s client after meeting him in a parking lot and speaking to him for five minutes. They never checked his background or work eligibility. They did obtain an address and social security number from him, but Hillyard said it took his team five minutes to discover these were fake.

“It was really, for her, an almost three-year journey and it’s just a really sad situation,” Hillyard said. “It just kind of goes to show that when you have a big construction project like this, that everyone kind of passes the buck down the chain. So, the apartment complex is requiring that the general contractor and the construction manager vet everyone, ensure that they’re legal to work in the United States, put safety plans in place and that duty keeps going downhill until the point it gets to Tip Top. And they really did nothing to fulfill any of those duties.”

Before the case was set to go to trial, Hillyard said they had reached a settlement with most of the defendants. On the morning of trial and the court closure, the defendant’s attorneys for the final holdout were authorized to offer a settlement.

“I think the initial group kind of saw the writing on the wall that there was liability there and Tip Top Painting was kind of the last holdout,” Hillyard said. “I don’t really know if that was pushback from the insurance company or from the company itself, but I think at the end of the day once we were that close to trial, and everyone knew everything we’re probably ever going to know about the situation, that they realized it wasn’t worth it to take a risk of us obtaining potentially a much higher verdict at trial.”

An attorney for the defense did not respond to a request for comment.

“This case is truly an example of everyone having the right safeguards in place, but then no one enforcing them, because there were 10 different ways that parties were obligated to do things in a safe manner that could have prevented this from happening,” Hillyard said. “They either didn’t do them, or higher up the chain didn’t confirm that they were getting done.”

The case ultimately settled for $3.85 million and past medical and psychiatric expenses.

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Amount of verdict, judgment or settlement: $3,850,000

Type of action: Personal injury/sexual assault

Breakdown: $250,000.00 from Parker Square defendants
$250,000.00 from CRG Developers LLC & Capital Realty Group of Missouri Inc.
$500,000.00 from defendant 4Sight Group, LLC
$2,850,000.00 from defendant Tip Top Painting, L.L.C.

Venue: Jackson County Circuit Court

Case Number/Date: 2416-CV11339 / 01/27/2026

Judge: Jalilah Otto

Plaintiffs’ Experts: Dr. Lauren Richerson with Hutchinson & Associates Psychology in Kansas City

Injuries: Emotional, psychological

Special Damages: $5,837.94 in past medical and psychiatric expenses

Caption: Jane Doe v. Parker Square Apartments Missouri LP et, al.

Plaintiffs’ Attorneys: Nick Hillyard & Samuel Wendt of the Wendt Law Firm in Kansas City

Defendants’ Attorneys: Jonathan Morrow, Mark W. Schmitz, & Allison L. Greenfield of Knight Nicastro MacKay from Kansas City and St. Louis; Lee M. Baty of Baty Otto Scheer in Kansas City; Derek Johannsen of Johannsen in Kansas City; And John G. Schultz of Franke Schultz & Mullen in Kansas City.