“Labor Omnia Vincit” McKay Law
Falls caused by tripping hazards happen without warning—but the injuries can last a lifetime. When negligent maintenance in Claremore, OK allows tripping hazards to exist, customers and guests pay the price. McKay Law fights for trip-and-fall victims throughout OK. While slip-and-fall accidents involve loss of traction—trip-and-falls occur when an obstacle stops your foot from completing a step, throwing you forward with no time to brace. Common tripping hazards include sidewalk defects, parking lot hazards, store displays blocking paths, construction debris, and unmarked changes in floor elevation. 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 elements of a Oklahoma premises liability claim. Our Claremore trip-and-fall attorneys act quickly to lock in proof—the physical evidence, video, witnesses, and the property owner’s maintenance history. Many businesses overwrite surveillance footage within 7 to 30 days, so calling an attorney early is critical. 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—especially serious for seniors. Insurance companies defending these cases love to claim the hazard was “open and obvious”—we know how to counter these defenses. Every trip-and-fall case is handled on a no-win, no-fee 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 no-cost case review with a Claremore, OK trip-and-fall lawyer who will fight to hold the negligent property owner accountable.
Trip-and-fall accidents happen when a person catches their foot on an obstacle, defect, or uneven surface and falls forward. Unlike slip-and-falls, where the foot slides, trip-and-falls happen when the foot is abruptly caught, generally resulting in forward impact. Trip-and-falls cause injuries every bit as devastating as slip-and-falls — with common injuries including wrist breaks, facial fractures, and head trauma. McKay Law represents trip-and-fall victims in Claremore and throughout Oklahoma.
The two types of falls work differently and produce different injuries:
Trips cause forward injuries — face, hands, knees. Slips cause backward injuries — hip, tailbone, back of head.
Oklahoma law classifies visitors into three categories, with different duties owed to each:
Oklahoma follows modified comparative fault (Okla. Stat. tit. 23, § 13). Recovery is available if your share stays at or below 50%, 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). Cases on public sidewalks trigger one-year GTCA notice requirements. Quick action is critical because video evidence vanishes fast.
We move quickly to demand preservation of all camera footage, capture the dangerous condition before it’s repaired, obtain documentation showing notice, work with treating doctors, and build each file for the courtroom.
A: Trips stop your foot and pitch you forward; slips slide your foot and drop you back.
A: Zero upfront. No fee unless we recover.
A: Maybe — it depends. We’d need to investigate who owns the sidewalk and assess the hazard.
A: Standard argument. This defense often fails when the full circumstances come out.
A: No. Talk to a lawyer first.
A: Case value varies by injury severity, surgery, work loss, and lasting damage. Severity drives value.
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). Different rules apply for public property.
People confuse trips and slips, but they aren’t the same legal claim. These cases call for a different playbook. A Claremore trip-and-fall attorney treats the case for what it actually is.
The two get conflated constantly, but the mechanics are different and the cases play out differently.
A slip is loss of friction. The body pitches rearward.
In a trip, the foot catches on something. The body pitches forward.
Slips and trips produce different injury patterns.
Trips frequently produce:
Trips have characteristic causes:
Trip-and-fall claims require establishing several elements:
Minor irregularities don’t necessarily support liability. Courts often look at the size of the hazard. Very minor irregularities may not support a case in some jurisdictions, while larger displacements clearly create liability.
Awareness of the hazard drives most cases.
Trip-and-falls have a unique notice advantage compared to slip-and-falls. 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 fall wasn’t directly observed.
Actual injuries must be documented.
The go-to insurance argument. Defense argues the danger was apparent. The doctrine has limits in many circumstances, especially when distractions made the hazard less obvious.
Defense counsel asserts comparative negligence. Comparative negligence may cut damages, they rarely eliminate viable claims.
“Sidewalks aren’t perfect”. The success of this argument depends on the specific dimensions.
Defense argues the plaintiff had previously navigated the area. Prior familiarity doesn’t necessarily defeat a claim.
Documentation gets harder as time passes. Photos showing the dimensions of the hazard are essential.
Insist on documentation. If no record is made, the case becomes harder to prove.
Eyewitnesses strengthen the case significantly.
History of falls at the location strengthens the case. Your attorney can pursue this through discovery.
Symptoms often develop later. Prompt evaluation anchors the claim.
Trip-and-fall liability depends on where the fall occurred:
Trip-and-fall damages emergency room and hospital costs, long-term treatment, missed work, diminished earning capacity, pain and suffering, and loss of consortium where applicable.
Counsel handling these cases charge no upfront fees. Case reviews cost nothing.
The hazard often disappears within days. Without photographs taken at the time, the case can become very difficult to prove. Surveillance footage gets overwritten on retention cycles. The legal time limit — particularly the shorter deadlines for government property claims — reinforces the need for quick action. Getting an attorney involved fast protects the evidence and the claim.
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 demand reconstructive surgery. Property owners — whether they run a retail shop — have a legal obligation to preserve 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 neglect 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 didn’t 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 waste no time to lock down surveillance footage, incident reports, inspection logs, prior complaints, and witness statements before they can be deleted. We fight for 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. Contact us right away at (866) 679-9651 or reach out online to schedule your free consultation and place a firm that takes these cases seriously on your side.
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