“Labor Omnia Vincit” McKay Law
Trip-and-fall accidents can happen in a split second—but the impact can change everything. If a business or landlord in Shawnee, 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 happen when your foot catches on something, often causing victims to land hard on hands, wrists, knees, or face. These accidents are often caused by sidewalk defects, parking lot hazards, store displays blocking paths, construction debris, and unmarked changes in floor elevation. The law requires property owners to exercise reasonable care to protect visitors from foreseeable trip hazards—but winning your case requires the right evidence. Your attorney must demonstrate 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 Shawnee trip-and-fall attorneys act quickly to lock in proof—security video, scene photos, employee testimony, and records of past incidents. Important evidence disappears fast, so don’t wait. Victims frequently suffer wrist and arm fractures from outstretched hands, head trauma, facial injuries, broken hips, and serious spinal damage—particularly devastating for older adults. Big-box retailers and their legal teams frequently argue you weren’t watching where you were going—we shut those tactics down with hard evidence. Every client we represent is handled on a contingency fee basis—you pay nothing unless we win. You may be entitled to recover for emergency room costs, surgeries, ongoing therapy, missed work, and physical and emotional suffering. Call McKay Law now for a complimentary evaluation with a Shawnee, OK trip-and-fall lawyer who will pursue every dollar your injury is worth.
A trip-and-fall occurs when something on the ground catches your foot and sends you down. While slip-and-falls involve sliding, trip-and-falls happen when the foot is abruptly caught, usually causing the victim to fall forward onto outstretched hands, knees, or face. The injuries are often equally serious — especially broken wrists, facial fractures, head injuries, and dental damage. McKay Law represents trip-and-fall victims in Shawnee and across the state.
The two types of falls work differently and produce different injuries:
Trips cause forward injuries — face, hands, knees. Slip-and-falls hit the back and sides.
Oklahoma recognizes three types of people on property, with different duties owed to each:
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 your share reduces the final award.
Oklahoma generally gives two years from the date of the fall to file (Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 95). Public property cases require GTCA notice within 12 months. Trip-and-fall cases demand fast action because video evidence vanishes fast.
We move quickly to lock down store video before it’s overwritten, document the hazard with photos, measurements, and expert analysis, investigate the property’s records, work with treating doctors, and treat each matter as trial-ready.
A: Different mechanics, different injury patterns.
A: Nothing. No recovery, no fee.
A: Possibly, yes. Both private owners and government entities can be liable, with different procedures for each.
A: Standard argument. We push back with evidence about lighting, distractions, and the nature of the hazard.
A: No. Refer them to your attorney.
A: Depends on injury severity, treatment, lost income, and permanent impact. Severity drives value.
A: Government claims follow special procedures. Government cases demand fast action and strict procedural compliance.
A: 2 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. A Shawnee trip-and-fall attorney brings the right approach for trip-specific injuries.
The terms get used interchangeably in everyday speech, but the mechanics are different and the cases play out differently.
A slip is loss of friction. The body typically falls backward.
A trip is an unexpected stop of the foot. People land on their hands, knees, face, or chest.
Slips and trips produce different injury patterns.
Trip injuries tend to include:
Trips have characteristic causes:
The proof requirements track standard premises liability:
The defect must be more than ordinary wear. Some areas have minimum height standards. A vertical displacement of less than half an inch may not support a case in some jurisdictions, while anything over an inch typically does.
Awareness of the hazard is the central battleground.
Trip hazards often involve permanent or long-standing conditions. Slip hazards can be momentary. Trip hazards — uplifted sidewalks, cracked floors, raised thresholds — usually develop over weeks, months, or years. Demonstrating the owner should have known is typically straightforward.
Connection between hazard and fall. Defense counsel may dispute this when the fall wasn’t directly observed.
Actual injuries must be documented.
The dominant defense argument. 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.
Defense counsel asserts comparative negligence. While OK’s comparative fault rules can reduce recovery, they rarely eliminate viable claims.
Defense argues that some unevenness is normal. The success of this argument depends on the size of the displacement.
Defense argues the plaintiff had previously navigated the area. This defense has limited reach.
The hazard will likely be fixed quickly. Pictures with a coin or ruler for scale provide the best proof.
Make sure a record is created. Without contemporaneous documentation, the property owner may deny the fall happened.
Anyone present when the fall occurred can be the deciding evidence.
History of falls at the location strengthens the case. Counsel can investigate prior incidents.
Adrenaline masks injury. Quick medical attention anchors the claim.
Different defendants emerge based on the property type:
Recoverable losses include surgical expenses, long-term treatment, past and future income loss, reduced ability to work, non-economic damages, and effects on family where applicable.
Counsel handling these cases earn fees only on recovery. Case reviews cost nothing.
The hazard often disappears within days. Without contemporaneous documentation, the case may not survive. Camera evidence disappears within weeks. OK’s statute of limitations with multiple deadlines depending on who’s liable reinforces the need for quick action. Engaging counsel promptly maximizes what these cases can recover.
An unmarked step 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 preserve their walkways, parking lots, entrances, and floors in safe condition, and to caution visitors about hazards they can’t reasonably fix right away. When they ignore 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 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 sign on with the McKay Law family, we move fast to capture surveillance footage, incident reports, inspection logs, prior complaints, and witness statements before they can conveniently disappear. We demand compensation for emergency room visits, surgeries, dental and reconstructive procedures, physical therapy, mobility aids, prescription costs, future medical care, lost wages, and the physical and emotional toll that follow a fall that should have never happened. Contact us today at (866) 679-9651 or reach out online to schedule your free consultation and bring a firm that takes these cases seriously behind you.
See why so many others choose McKay Law, PLLC
With over 300 five-star reviews, McKay Law, your local Personal Injury Law Firm has earned the trust and gratitude of our clients. Every case we handle is unique, and every client’s story matters. Don’t just take our word for it—hear directly from our clients about their experiences and why they confidently recommend us to others.
