“Labor Omnia Vincit” McKay Law
Falls caused by tripping hazards occur faster than you can react—but the consequences can be permanent. If a business or landlord in El Reno, OK ignores obvious dangers, innocent visitors get hurt. McKay Law represents 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, sending you into an uncontrolled forward fall. 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 maintain safe walking surfaces and warn visitors of any 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 El Reno trip-and-fall attorneys move fast to preserve evidence—security video, scene photos, employee testimony, and records of past incidents. Many businesses overwrite surveillance footage within 7 to 30 days, so don’t wait. Trip-and-fall injuries 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. Big-box retailers and their legal teams love to claim the hazard was “open and obvious”—we shut those tactics down with hard evidence. All of our premises liability claims is handled on a contingency basis—no fees unless we recover. You may be entitled to recover for medical bills, future care, lost wages, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, and diminished quality of life. Call McKay Law now for a free consultation with a El Reno, OK premises liability attorney 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. Unlike slip-and-falls, where the foot slides, trip-and-falls happen when the foot is abruptly caught, typically producing forward falls onto 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. Our firm fights for trip-and-fall victims in El Reno 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. 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). You can recover if you bear no more than 50% of the fault, though your share reduces the final award.
Oklahoma generally gives 2 years from the date of the fall to file (Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 95). Government cases trigger one-year GTCA notice requirements. Trip-and-fall cases demand fast action because surveillance footage is often overwritten within days or weeks.
We get to work immediately to send preservation letters demanding surveillance video, document the hazard with photos, measurements, and expert analysis, pull maintenance logs and prior incident history, 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. We only get paid if we win.
A: Possibly, yes. 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: No. Call us first.
A: Case value varies by injury severity, surgery, work loss, and lasting damage. Wrist fractures, facial injuries, and TBI cases carry significant value.
A: Different rules apply. Oklahoma’s Governmental Tort Claims Act requires notice within one year and caps damages.
A: Two years from the date of the fall (Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 95). GTCA cases require notice within 12 months.
People confuse trips and slips, but they aren’t the same legal claim. Different mechanics, different injuries, different defenses. An attorney familiar with these specific claims knows how to build them on their own terms.
The terms get used interchangeably in everyday speech, though the underlying physics and resulting injuries differ significantly.
Slips happen when friction fails — the foot goes one way, the body the other. The body pitches rearward.
Trips occur when a forward step is interrupted. The body falls in the direction of travel.
These different falls cause different harm.
Trip injuries tend to include:
Trips have characteristic causes:
The proof requirements track standard premises liability:
Minor irregularities don’t necessarily support liability. Many jurisdictions have established thresholds. A vertical displacement of less than half an inch may not support a case in some jurisdictions, while more substantial defects support claims clearly.
Knew or should have known is the central battleground.
Trip-and-falls have a unique notice advantage compared to slip-and-falls. A spill might have appeared minutes before. Trip hazards — uplifted sidewalks, cracked floors, raised thresholds — usually develop over weeks, months, or years. This makes constructive notice easier to prove.
The defect must have caused the trip. This is sometimes contested when the plaintiff didn’t see what they tripped on.
Documented injuries are required.
The most common defense in trip-and-fall cases. Defendants claim the hazard was visible and the plaintiff should have seen it. The doctrine has limits in many circumstances, especially when distractions made the hazard less obvious.
“You should have been looking down”. Shared-fault arguments may impact damages, they usually don’t bar recovery entirely.
“Sidewalks aren’t perfect”. The success of this argument depends on the measurable extent of the hazard.
“You’ve been here before”. Prior familiarity doesn’t necessarily defeat a claim.
The hazard will likely be fixed quickly. Pictures with a coin or ruler for scale become critical evidence.
Insist on documentation. If no record is made, the entire visit can later be disputed.
Eyewitnesses provide independent corroboration.
Prior incidents establish notice. Your attorney can pursue this through discovery.
Even when injuries seem minor at the scene. Same-day medical documentation anchors the claim.
Trip-and-fall liability depends on where the fall occurred:
Trip-and-fall damages emergency room and hospital costs, ongoing care for permanent injuries, lost wages, permanent occupational limitations, non-economic damages, and effects on family where applicable.
Trip-and-fall attorneys work on contingency. First meetings carry no charge.
Property owners typically repair the defect once a fall is reported. Without contemporaneous documentation, the case can become very difficult to prove. Video proof has limited retention. OK’s statute of limitations with shorter timelines for some defendants reinforces the need for quick action. Engaging counsel promptly 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 demand reconstructive surgery. Property owners — whether they run a restaurant — have a legal obligation to maintain their walkways, parking lots, entrances, and floors in safe condition, and to warn visitors about hazards they can’t reasonably fix right away. When they neglect that duty, people get hurt. At McKay Law, we investigate how the hazard came to exist, how long it had been there, whether anyone reported it, and what the property owner did — or never bothered 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 come into the McKay Law family, we move fast to lock down 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 wages, and the ongoing struggle that follow a fall that should have never happened. Phone us as soon as you can at (866) 679-9651 or reach out online to book your free consultation and place a firm that takes these cases seriously behind you.
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