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Trip and fall incidents happen without warning—but the injuries can last a lifetime. When a property owner in Norman, OK fails to fix dangerous conditions, customers and guests pay the price. McKay Law advocates for trip-and-fall victims throughout OK. Unlike slip-and-falls where you slide on a wet surface—trip-and-falls happen when your foot catches on something, throwing you forward with no time to brace. Typical causes 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. Property owners have a legal duty to exercise reasonable care to protect visitors from foreseeable trip hazards—but holding them accountable demands experience. To win a trip-and-fall claim the hazard existed, the owner knew or should have known about it, they failed to fix or warn about it, and that failure caused your injuries. Our Norman trip and fall accident attorneys immediately begin building your case—security video, scene photos, employee testimony, and records of past incidents. Critical video evidence is often destroyed within weeks, so don’t wait. Victims frequently suffer broken wrists from bracing the fall, fractured arms, facial injuries, broken noses, dental damage, knee injuries, hip fractures, shoulder injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and herniated discs—particularly devastating for older adults. Insurance companies defending these cases will often try to blame the victim—we know how to counter these defenses. All of our premises liability claims is handled on a contingency fee basis—you pay nothing unless we win. Recoverable damages include medical bills, future care, lost wages, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, and diminished quality of life. Contact McKay Law today for a no-cost case review with a Norman, OK trip and fall accident 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. Different from slip-and-falls, where the foot loses traction, trip-and-falls involve the foot being suddenly halted, usually causing the victim to fall forward onto outstretched hands, knees, or face. The injuries can be just as severe as slip-and-falls — particularly wrist fractures, facial injuries, head trauma, and dental damage. McKay Law represents trip-and-fall victims in Norman and throughout Oklahoma.
The two types of falls work differently and produce different injuries:
Trip-and-fall injuries are usually to the front of the body. Slip-and-falls typically produce backward-impact injuries — back, hips, head.
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, with damages reduced by your fault percentage.
The deadline in Oklahoma is two years from the date of the fall to file (Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 95). Government cases require notice within one year. Time matters in these cases because critical video is routinely deleted on rolling cycles.
We act fast to lock down store video before it’s overwritten, capture the dangerous condition before it’s repaired, investigate the property’s records, work with treating doctors, and prepare every case as if it will go to trial.
A: Trips stop your foot and pitch you forward; slips slide your foot and drop you back.
A: Nothing upfront. We only get paid if we win.
A: Could be a claim. Both private owners and government entities can be liable, with different procedures for each.
A: Common defense. This defense often fails when the full circumstances come out.
A: Don’t. Call us first.
A: Case value varies by injury severity, surgery, work loss, and lasting damage. Cases with broken wrists, facial damage, or head injuries can be substantial.
A: Different rules apply. Government cases demand fast action and strict procedural compliance.
A: Two years from the date of the fall (Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 95). Government cases require one-year notice.
“Trip” and “slip” sound interchangeable — they aren’t, especially in court. Different mechanics, different injuries, different defenses. An attorney familiar with these specific claims treats the case for what it actually is.
The terms get used interchangeably in everyday speech, but the mechanics are different and the cases play out differently.
Slips happen when friction fails — the foot goes one way, the body the other. The body typically falls backward.
A trip is an unexpected stop of the foot. People land on their hands, knees, face, or chest.
The injuries from each type differ significantly.
Trip injuries tend to include:
Trips have characteristic causes:
The proof requirements track standard premises liability:
The condition must be unreasonably dangerous. Many jurisdictions have established thresholds. Very minor irregularities may not support a case in some jurisdictions, while anything over an inch typically does.
Awareness of the hazard drives most cases.
Trip-and-falls have a unique notice advantage compared to slip-and-falls. Slip cases often struggle on the duration question. Trip hazards tend to have substantial history. The notice element is often stronger in trip cases.
The defect must have caused the trip. Defense counsel may dispute this when the plaintiff didn’t see what they tripped on.
Actual injuries must be documented.
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.
Defense counsel asserts comparative negligence. Comparative negligence may cut damages, they typically allow recovery to continue.
Defense argues that some unevenness is normal. How this argument plays out turns on the size of the displacement.
“You’ve been here before”. Prior familiarity doesn’t necessarily defeat a claim.
Property owners often repair the defect within days. Pictures with a coin or ruler for scale are essential.
Insist on documentation. If no record is made, the entire visit can later be disputed.
Eyewitnesses can be the deciding evidence.
Prior incidents establish notice. Your attorney can pursue this through discovery.
Adrenaline masks injury. Quick medical attention anchors the claim.
Different defendants emerge based on the property type:
Recoverable losses include emergency room and hospital costs, ongoing care for permanent injuries, past and future income loss, permanent occupational limitations, loss of enjoyment of life, and effects on family where applicable.
Premises liability lawyers earn fees only on recovery. Case reviews cost nothing.
Property owners typically repair the defect once a fall is reported. Without immediate evidence, the claim weakens significantly. Surveillance footage disappears within weeks. The filing deadline with multiple deadlines depending on who’s liable creates time pressure. Getting an attorney involved fast protects the evidence and the claim.
A cracked sidewalk 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 require reconstructive surgery. Property owners — whether they run a retail shop — have a legal obligation to keep their walkways, parking lots, entrances, and floors in safe condition, and to alert visitors about hazards they can’t reasonably fix right away. When they disregard that duty, people get hurt. At McKay Law, we examine how the hazard came to exist, how long it had been there, whether anyone reported it, and what the property owner did — or neglected 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 sign on with the McKay Law family, we waste no time to lock down surveillance footage, incident reports, inspection logs, prior complaints, and witness statements before they can get lost. We demand compensation for emergency room visits, surgeries, dental and reconstructive procedures, physical therapy, mobility aids, prescription costs, future medical care, missed paychecks, and the physical and emotional toll that follow a fall that should have never happened. Reach us right away at (866) 679-9651 or reach out online to arrange your free consultation and bring a firm that takes these cases seriously on your side.
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