Oklahoma Premises Liability Attorney | When Can You Sue a Property Owner?

If you need a premises liability attorney Oklahoma City injury victims trust to hold negligent property owners accountable, Warhawk Legal’s Joe Carson has spent over 20 years fighting for people injured on commercial and residential properties throughout the metro. Oklahoma’s premises liability law imposes a duty on property owners to maintain reasonably safe conditions — and when they fail that duty and someone is injured they can be held legally responsible.

The Three Categories of Visitors Under Oklahoma Premises Liability Law

Oklahoma premises liability law classifies people who enter property into three categories each with a different standard of care owed by the property owner.

Invitees are people who enter the property with the owner’s express or implied invitation typically for a business purpose — customers in a retail store, diners in a restaurant, patients in a medical office, and guests at a hotel are all invitees. Property owners owe invitees the highest duty of care — they must not only warn invitees of known dangerous conditions but must also actively and regularly inspect the property to discover and correct hazardous conditions.

Licensees are people who enter with the owner’s permission but for their own purposes rather than a business purpose — social guests at a private home are the most common example. Property owners must warn licensees of known dangerous conditions but are not required to actively inspect for unknown hazards.

Trespassers are people who enter without permission. Property owners generally owe trespassers only the duty not to willfully or wantonly injure them. However the attractive nuisance doctrine may create liability for injuries to child trespassers when the property contains a condition likely to attract children — swimming pools are the most common example.

Common Premises Liability Cases in Oklahoma City

Slip and fall accidents caused by wet floors, uneven pavement, ice and snow accumulation, and damaged flooring. Inadequate security cases where a property owner’s failure to provide reasonable security allowed a crime to occur. Swimming pool accidents involving unsecured pools that attract children. Negligent maintenance of elevators, escalators, and other mechanical systems. Dog bites on private property. Structural failures including collapsing floors, ceilings, railings, and stairs.

What You Must Prove in an Oklahoma Premises Liability Case

To successfully recover compensation you must prove the property owner owed you a duty of care, the owner breached that duty by failing to maintain reasonably safe premises or warn of known hazards, the breach directly caused your accident and injuries, and you suffered actual damages. The most contested element in most cases is whether the property owner knew or should have known about the hazardous condition. Learn more at oscn.net.

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