“Labor Omnia Vincit” McKay Law
Trip and fall incidents can happen in a split second—but the impact can change everything. When a property owner in Bartlesville, OK allows tripping hazards to exist, customers and guests pay the price. McKay Law fights for trip-and-fall victims throughout OK. Unlike slip-and-falls where you slide on a wet surface—these falls happen when something unexpectedly snags your foot, often causing victims to land hard on hands, wrists, knees, or face. Common tripping hazards include uneven sidewalks and pavement, cracked concrete, raised floor mats, exposed cords or cables, torn carpet, loose tiles, missing or broken stair treads, debris in walkways, parking lot potholes, raised thresholds, and poorly marked level changes. The law requires property owners to exercise reasonable care to protect visitors from foreseeable trip hazards—but holding them accountable demands experience. Establishing liability requires proving notice of the danger, the owner’s failure to act, and a direct link to your harm. Our Bartlesville trip and fall accident attorneys immediately begin building your case—the physical evidence, video, witnesses, and the property owner’s maintenance history. Critical video evidence is often destroyed within weeks, so don’t wait. These accidents often cause wrist and arm fractures from outstretched hands, head trauma, facial injuries, broken hips, and serious spinal damage—especially serious for seniors. Big-box retailers and their legal teams love to claim the hazard was “open and obvious”—we know how to counter these defenses. All of our premises liability claims is handled on a contingency basis—you pay nothing unless we win. Recoverable damages include emergency room costs, surgeries, ongoing therapy, missed work, and physical and emotional suffering. Contact McKay Law today for a free consultation with a Bartlesville, OK trip-and-fall lawyer who will stand up to the businesses and insurers protecting them.
Trip-and-fall accidents happen when a person catches their foot on an obstacle, defect, or uneven surface and falls forward. While slip-and-falls involve sliding, trip-and-falls happen when the foot is suddenly stopped, typically producing forward falls onto hands, knees, or face. The injuries are often equally serious — with common injuries including wrist breaks, facial fractures, and head trauma. McKay Law advocates for trip-and-fall victims in Bartlesville and across the state.
Trip-and-falls and slip-and-falls have different mechanics — and the distinction matters legally:
Trip-and-fall injuries are usually to the front of the body. Slip-and-falls hit the back and sides.
Oklahoma recognizes three types of people on property, each carrying a different legal duty:
Oklahoma uses a modified comparative negligence system (Okla. Stat. tit. 23, § 13). You can still recover if you are 50% or less at fault, though the award is reduced by your share.
Oklahoma generally gives two years from the date of the fall to file (Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 95). Cases on public sidewalks trigger one-year GTCA notice requirements. Time matters in these cases because video evidence vanishes fast.
We move quickly to lock down store video before it’s overwritten, secure measurements of height differentials and other hazard characteristics, obtain documentation showing notice, coordinate with treating providers, and build each file for the courtroom.
A: Trip-and-falls catch your foot and send you forward; slip-and-falls lose traction and send you backward.
A: Nothing. No recovery, no fee.
A: Could be a claim. Government entities and private property owners can be liable for unsafe sidewalks — but special rules apply for public sidewalks.
A: Common defense. This defense often fails when the full circumstances come out.
A: Don’t. Refer them to your attorney.
A: Value turns on injury seriousness, treatment, and permanent restrictions. Wrist fractures, facial injuries, and TBI cases carry significant value.
A: Special deadlines apply. Government cases demand fast action and strict procedural compliance.
A: Two years from the date of the fall (Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 95). Different rules apply for public property.
“Trip” and “slip” sound interchangeable — they aren’t, especially in court. These cases call for a different playbook. An attorney familiar with these specific claims treats the case for what it actually is.
The terms get used interchangeably in everyday speech, though the underlying physics and resulting injuries differ significantly.
In a slip, the foot loses traction and slides forward. People land on their backs, hips, or tailbones.
A trip is an unexpected stop of the foot. The body falls in the direction of travel.
Slips and trips produce different injury patterns.
Trip injuries tend to include:
Trip hazards have a specific profile:
Trip-and-fall claims require establishing several elements:
Minor irregularities don’t necessarily support liability. Many jurisdictions have established thresholds. Very minor irregularities may not support a case in some jurisdictions, while anything over an inch typically does.
Actual or constructive notice is the central battleground.
Trip hazards often involve permanent or long-standing conditions. A spill might have appeared minutes before. Trip hazards tend to have substantial history. Demonstrating the owner should have known is typically straightforward.
Causation must be established. Defense counsel may dispute this when the cause isn’t immediately apparent.
Documented injuries are required.
The most common defense in trip-and-fall cases. Insurers say the hazard was obvious. The doctrine has limits in many circumstances, especially when the conditions made the hazard hard to see.
Insurers argue the plaintiff wasn’t watching where they were walking. While OK’s comparative fault rules can reduce recovery, they rarely eliminate viable claims.
“Sidewalks aren’t perfect”. How this argument plays out turns on the specific dimensions.
Defense claims familiarity with the location should have prevented the fall. This defense has limited reach.
The hazard will likely be fixed quickly. Pictures with a coin or ruler for scale provide the best proof.
Get an incident report on file. Without contemporaneous documentation, the property owner may deny the fall happened.
Other customers, neighbors, or employees who saw the fall strengthen the case significantly.
Prior incidents establish notice. These records often emerge during the case.
Even when injuries seem minor at the scene. Prompt evaluation creates the medical record insurers need to see.
Trip-and-fall liability depends on where the fall occurred:
Recoverable losses include surgical expenses, ongoing care for permanent injuries, missed work, permanent occupational limitations, non-economic damages, and effects on family where applicable.
Trip-and-fall attorneys charge no upfront fees. Free initial consultations are standard.
Trip hazards get fixed quickly once a claim is filed. Without immediate evidence, the claim weakens significantly. Camera evidence has limited retention. OK’s statute of limitations — particularly the shorter deadlines for government property claims — creates time pressure. Getting an attorney involved fast maximizes what these cases can recover.
A torn piece of carpet doesn’t look like much — until your toe catches it and the ground rushes up to meet you. Trip-and-fall injuries happen in an instant, but the damage often lasts for years: broken wrists from bracing on impact, fractured hips, dislocated shoulders, concussions, knocked-out teeth, and facial injuries that call for reconstructive surgery. Property owners — whether they run a office building — have a legal obligation to keep their walkways, parking lots, entrances, and floors in safe condition, and to notify visitors about hazards they can’t reasonably fix right away. When they ignore that duty, people get hurt. At McKay Law, we uncover how the hazard came to exist, how long it had been there, whether anyone reported it, and what the property owner did — or failed to do — about it.
The insurance company’s first move in a trip-and-fall claim is almost always the same: blame you. They’ll argue you weren’t watching where you were going, that the hazard was open and obvious, that your footwear was wrong, or that you were distracted by your phone. We’ve heard it all, and we know how to dismantle it. When you partner with the McKay Law family, we act quickly to preserve surveillance footage, incident reports, inspection logs, prior complaints, and witness statements before they can get lost. We chase compensation for emergency room visits, surgeries, dental and reconstructive procedures, physical therapy, mobility aids, prescription costs, future medical care, lost income, and the daily hardship that follow a fall that should have never happened. Phone us right away at (866) 679-9651 or reach out online to arrange your free consultation and put a firm that takes these cases seriously behind you.
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