A Tulsa personal injury lawyer helps people hurt by another person’s or company’s negligence recover compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Oklahoma generally requires an injury lawsuit within two years of the accident date under 12 O.S. § 95, so talking to a lawyer early helps protect your claim.
Tulsa is Oklahoma’s second-largest city, and that size brings a steady volume of car crashes, workplace injuries, and premises accidents every year. Hasbrook & Hasbrook represents people hurt in and around Tulsa, and the first conversation about what happened does not cost anything.
Types of Personal Injury Claims We Handle in Tulsa
A personal injury claim generally comes down to two things: you were hurt, and someone else, a driver, a business, a property owner, or in some cases a government entity, is legally responsible for it. The type of accident changes what evidence matters and who ultimately pays, but the claims we see most often out of Tulsa include:
- collision claims we handle for Tulsa drivers
- 18-wheeler and commercial truck crash claims in Tulsa
- riders hurt in a Tulsa motorcycle crash
- claims after a Tulsa rideshare crash, whether you were a passenger, another driver, or a pedestrian
- bicycle accident claims for Tulsa riders
- neglect and abuse claims at Tulsa care facilities
- premises falls we handle for Tulsa clients
- catastrophic injury cases requiring long-term specialized care
- serious burn injury claims tied to Tulsa’s refining and energy industry, though burns can just as easily come from a kitchen fire, a defective product, or a car crash
What to Do After an Accident in Tulsa
What you do in the days after an accident tends to shape the claim later:
- Get medical care first, even if you feel fine. Some injuries do not show symptoms right away.
- Call the police after a crash, or report the incident to the property owner or manager after a fall, so an official record exists.
- Take photos of where and how it happened, and of any visible injury, before the scene changes or gets cleaned up.
- Get contact information from witnesses while they are still there.
- Be careful what you say to an insurance adjuster, and talk to a lawyer before signing anything or accepting an early settlement offer.
Fault and Compensation Under Oklahoma Law
Oklahoma follows a modified comparative negligence rule. Under 23 O.S. § 13, being partly at fault for your own accident does not automatically bar you from recovering damages, recovery is barred only once your share of fault equals or exceeds the combined fault of the party or parties you are suing. Short of that line, your award is simply reduced by your percentage of fault.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tracks how often driver negligence, distraction and impaired driving among them, contributes to crashes nationally, a pattern that shows up in Tulsa traffic accidents as well.
How Long You Have to File a Tulsa Injury Claim
Oklahoma generally requires a personal injury lawsuit to be filed within two years of the accident date, under 12 O.S. § 95 (linked above). Wait past that deadline and a court will typically dismiss the case regardless of its merits. Minors get more time: under 12 O.S. § 96, someone injured before turning 18 generally has until one year after their eighteenth birthday to sue. A plain-language summary of that rule is available through Justia’s Oklahoma statutes mirror.
If a city, county, or other government entity caused the injury, for example a wreck involving a Tulsa city vehicle, the deadline is shorter: written notice must reach that government body within one year of the loss under 51 O.S. § 156, well before any lawsuit can be filed.
Where Tulsa Injury Claims Are Filed
Tulsa is the county seat of Tulsa County, and most personal injury lawsuits arising from a Tulsa-area accident are filed in Tulsa County District Court. Some federal claims, certain product liability or interstate trucking cases among them, are instead heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, which is headquartered in Tulsa.
What Hiring a Tulsa Personal Injury Lawyer Costs
Like most personal injury attorneys, we work on contingency: no upfront cost, and no fee unless we recover money for you. Our FAQ on what a contingency fee arrangement means for your case explains how that typically works.
Contact a Tulsa Personal Injury Lawyer for a Free Consultation
If you or someone you love was hurt in an accident in Tulsa, evidence and deadlines do not wait, so the sooner we can review what happened, the more options you typically have. Hasbrook & Hasbrook does not charge anything to look at a Tulsa injury claim and tell you honestly what we think it is worth.
Call (405) 605-2426 or find out what your Tulsa injury claim may be worth today.
