Slip and Fall Injury: Claim Filing Overview

Have you received a slip and fall injury?  If it is due to the negligent act of a property owner or occupant, then you may be able to file a case. Our strategic approach will ensure that you receive the highest level of compensation for your bodily injury.

Slip and Fall (Premises Liability) Claim Overview

The owner or possessor of property has a responsibility to take reasonable care of their property.  They also must prevent injuries from occurring to visitors (whether by invitation, permission, and to a certain extent, trespassers). They must repair known hazardous property dangers or post visible warnings to visitors about such dangers that have no remedy. If a property owner fails to do so, the owner may be liable for resulting injuries a visitor incurs.

In order to bring a viable slip and fall claim against a property owner for injuries incurred due to their negligent act, you must prove the following:

The owner or possessor of the property created a dangerous condition that caused your slip and fall injury to occur;

1. That the owner or possessor of the property had prior knowledge of the dangerous condition that caused your slip-and-fall injury and negligently failed to correct it
2. The owner or possessor of the property should have known about the dangerous condition because a reasonable person managing the property would have discovered, removed, or repaired the dangerous condition that caused your slip-and-fall
3. The owner or possessor of the property failed to warn you about the dangerous condition prior to your slip-and-fall accident occurring

To prove the elements of liability above, you must identify who is the responsible owner of the property.

Commercial Property Owners

If your slip-and-fall injury occurred on commercial property, you will have to prove that the owner or possessor of the premises (this can be a business tenant that rents the property) invited you onto the property for a business purpose and failed to warn you about a dangerous condition on the property which later caused your slip-and-fall injury to occur.

Residential Property Owners

If your slip and-fall injury occurred on residential property, you will have to prove that the property owner had control over the dangerous condition that caused your slip and fall injury, that such owner could have reasonably repaired the dangerous condition, and that the owner failed to take reasonable measures to repair the dangerous condition prior to your injury occurring.

Government Property

Recovering damages for slip-and-fall injuries occurring on government property depends on whether the property is owned by federal, state, or a local government agency. Contact Kania Law Office’s slip and fall attorney for more information on the proper procedures slip-and-fall plaintiffs are required to take when filing a personal injury claim against such a government agency.

Types of Damages

Upon filing your slip-and-fall personal injury claim, you will have to state the type of damages you seek.  You will also specify compensation for the injuries you incurred as a result of their negligent act.

Under Oklahoma State law, you may be able to request compensatory and punitive damages. Compensatory damages are to put you in a position that you would have been in had the injury not occurred. Such damages consist of medical expenses, emotional distress, pain and suffering, and loss of earnings and future loss of earnings.

Punitive damages may award to you if the defendant’s negligent action was reckless, malicious, or intentional. Such damages intend to punish the defendant in order to prevent similar conduct from occurring in the future.

If the jury finds recklessness in the defendant’s actions, then rules for compensation come into play.  The amount of punitive damages awarded cannot exceed the greater of $100,000 or the amount of the compensatory damages awarded.

In the event the jury finds that the defendant acted with malice in intentionally causing harm to you, the amount of punitive damages awarded cannot exceed the greater of $500,000, twice the amount of the compensatory damages awarded, or the increased financial benefit derived by the defendant or insurer as a direct result of the conduct that caused your injury.

Modified Comparative Negligence

Oklahoma has adopted the doctrine of modified comparative negligence. Under this doctrine of law, a portion of your damages may reduce if comparative negligence exists.

For example, you will recover damages only if you are less than 50% at fault for your slip-and-fall injury. If you are more than 50% at fault for your injury, it bars you from recovery. Your reward amount is directly proportional to your level of fault.

Contact an Experienced Tulsa Slip and Fall Attorney

For free consultation with an Oklahoma slip and fall attorney please contact Kania law Office at 918-743-2233.