Oklahoma Premises Liability Lawyer

What does an Oklahoma property owner owe a visitor?

It depends on why you were there. Oklahoma follows the traditional categories of invitee, licensee and trespasser, and the owner's duty grows with the reason for your visit.

• Invitees, such as store shoppers, restaurant diners and hotel guests, are owed reasonable care, including inspecting for hazards and fixing or warning about them.
• Licensees, such as social guests, are generally owed a warning about hidden dangers the owner knows about.
• Trespassers are owed much less, though owners still cannot set traps or act willfully, and special rules can protect children.

Most of the serious claims we see involve invitees, because businesses invite the public in and profit from it.

Can an owner win just by saying the hazard was obvious?

Sometimes, which is why Oklahoma premises claims need careful proof. Oklahoma courts recognize an open-and-obvious doctrine: an owner generally has no duty to warn about dangers a reasonable visitor would see and avoid.

That defense is not automatic. A hazard may not be obvious if:

1. Lighting was poor or the hazard blended into the floor.
2. A display, crowd or stack of merchandise blocked your view.
3. You had no reasonable way around it, such as the only entrance to a building.
4. The owner had reason to expect people would be distracted, as with eye-level displays.

Photographs taken right away often decide this issue. A clear puddle on a shiny floor under bright lights may look obvious in a lawyer's office, but not in a store aisle.

How does Oklahoma weather affect slip and fall claims?

Ice storms, hail and heavy rain cause many falls, but bad weather alone does not excuse an owner. The question is whether the owner acted reasonably given the conditions.

Owners are usually not expected to keep up with ice during an active storm. Once it passes, though, a business that leaves its entrance glazed with ice, skips salting a parking lot for days, or ignores a leaking roof dripping onto tile may be responsible. Water tracked in by customers on a rainy day is a classic hazard, and mats, warning cones and regular checks are reasonable precautions. Inspection logs and staffing records can show whether those steps happened.

What about casinos, apartments and negligent security?

Oklahoma has many large gaming venues, along with hotels, event centers, apartment complexes and big-box stores. Each can create its own premises claims.

Apartment owners are often responsible for broken stairs, loose railings and poorly lit walkways. When an assault happens in a parking lot or common area, a negligent security claim may exist if the owner knew about prior crime and failed to provide reasonable lighting, locks or guards. Venues operated by tribal nations raise special issues, because claims may run through procedures set by tribal law or a gaming compact rather than state court, often on short timelines. If you were hurt at a tribal venue, raise that fact early.

How does fault sharing work in an Oklahoma fall case?

Your recovery is reduced by your own percentage of fault and is barred if that share is more than 50%. Property owners almost always argue the injured person should have watched their step.

Consider a fall on an untreated ice patch outside a pharmacy two days after a storm. Your damages are $80,000, including surgery for a broken wrist. The store argues you were looking at your phone and claims you were 30% at fault. If a jury agrees, you would recover $56,000. If you were found 60% at fault, you would recover nothing. Clear evidence of how long the ice sat there pushes responsibility back where it belongs.

What if I fell on public property in Oklahoma?

Claims against the state, a city, a county or a school district fall under Oklahoma's governmental tort claims law and require written notice within 1 year. Some kinds of public decisions are protected from suit altogether.

Most other premises claims must be filed within 2 years. Our Oklahoma injury law page covers the general rules, and our dog bites and animal attacks page explains claims involving animals on someone's property. If a loved one died from an unsafe condition, see our Oklahoma wrongful death guide. We offer a free case review, and there is no fee unless we win.