Chris Hammons | October 15, 2024 | Premises Liability
Millions of people pass through the Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City every year. With that kind of traffic, it’s not surprising that injuries are not uncommon. If you suffer an injury there, especially if you believe someone else may be responsible, it’s important that you handle the matter appropriately.
Essential Steps
These are the following steps you should do as soon as you can after the accident:
- Contact airport staff for first aid. Have your friend or partner render first aid until the staff arrives. If you’re alone, perform first aid on yourself.
- Seek further medical attention at the hospital by calling 911 if necessary.
- Report the incident to airport authorities. Ask them to prepare an accident report and send you a copy.
- Cather evidence at the scene. Photograph anything that might serve as evidence. For example, get the contact details of any witnesses.
If your injury is significant, you must consult with one of our Oklahoma City injury attorneys at your earliest convenience.
Damages
You might qualify for any or all of the following types of damages:
- Economic damages: Medical expenses, lost earnings, out-of-pocket expenses, and other expenses that are easy to reduce to a specific dollar value.
- Non-economic damages: Emotional distress, pain and suffering, disfigurement, and other intangible losses that are difficult to count. Non-economic damages frequently amount to several times the amount of economic damages.
- Punitive damages: An extra amount that courts award when the defendant’s behavior has been outrageous. You cannot seek punitive damages against the zoo because it is owned by the city government (see below for details).
You must support every penny of your damages claim with valid evidence.
Possible Defendants
The airport is the obvious target of an accident that occurred there. They might not be the appropriate defendant, however. You might claim against another defendant, or you might claim against both the airport and a second defendant. Here are some possible alternative defendants:
- An airport guest
- An airline
- An airport vendor
- A construction contractor, if construction was going on at the airport at the time of your accident
- The manufacturer of a defective product that injured you (a malfunctioning escalator, for example)
Your lawyer might be able to identify other potential defendants, depending on the facts of your case.
Possible Claims
There are many different possible bases of a claim that you might file over an airport injury, including:
- Premises liability, if the airport caused your injury by failing to maintain a safe environment.
- Product liability if, for example, a malfunctioning escalator injured you.
- Wrongful death, if the personal injury victim dies from their injury.
- Negligence, if someone injured you through carelessness.
- Battery, if someone at the airport intentionally inflicted violent injury upon you.
- Medical malpractice, if you received substandard treatment at the airport’s medical facility.
The Oklahoma statute of limitations generally allows two years to file a lawsuit over a personal injury aim. Certain exceptions apply, however.
Should You Settle Out of Court?
Perhaps. Indeed, most people resolve their personal injury claim out of court. Here is the way it works much of the time:
- You attempt to negotiate your claim;
- The other side refuses to issue a decent settlement offer;
- You file a lawsuit to motivate the defendant to settle;
- You continue collecting evidence through the pretrial discovery process, and
- You offer to withdraw the lawsuit in exchange for an acceptable settlement.
If this approach doesn’t work, you might want to consider agreeing to mediation.
Suing the City
Oklahoma City owns the Will Rogers World Airport, which makes it a public entity. As such, the Oklahoma Tort Claims Act places additional barriers and limitations on filing a personal injury lawsuit against Oklahoma City:
- You must file a written notice of claim with the city within 90 days of your injury;
- The city has 90 days to accept or reject your claim (a counteroffer counts as a rejection);
- You must file your lawsuit, if at all, within 180 days of the city’s rejection of your claim.
You are limited to the following amounts of compensation:
- $175,000 per person per accident; and
- $25,000 in property damage per accident.
You cannot seek punitive damages.
Contact an Oklahoma City Personal Injury Lawyer Immediately
You won’t really know how much your personal injury claim is worth until you speak with a personal injury lawyer. You might not even know whether you have a viable claim at all. Fortunately, almost all personal injury lawyers offer free initial consultations. They also typically work on a contingency fee basis, which means you won’t owe any attorney’s fees unless you win your case. Contact Laird Hammons Laird Personal Injury Lawyers today to schedule a free consultation.
Contact Our Personal Injury Lawyers at Laird Hammons Laird Trial Lawyers for a Free Consultation
For more information, please contact an experienced Personal Injury lawyer at Laird Hammons Laird Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free initial consultation today. Our law office is located in Oklahoma City.
We proudly serve Oklahoma County, OK, and its surrounding areas:
Laird Hammons Laird Personal Injury Lawyers – OKC
1332 SW 89th St,
Oklahoma City, OK 73159
(405) 497-0480