Oklahoma City Personal Injury Lawyers

With more than 75 years of combined legal experience in providing effective legal services to our clients, Shelton & Walkley Law Group is one of the most prominent and respected law firms in Oklahoma City. Our firm is “AV Preeminent Rated” by Martindale-Hubbell, a nationally recognized legal resource service that rates both attorneys and law firms based upon peer reviews. An “AV” rating is the highest possible rating, and measures such factors as legal ability, standards of professional conduct, ethics, reliability, communication, and diligence.

Shelton & Walkley Law Group offers over 75 years of combined legal experience. We handle a wide range of civil matters, including those involving personal injury, real estate, construction defects, family law, and estate planning and probate. Our firm is large enough to handle any size of case but small enough that you do not become just a number to us. We handle each case with extreme dedication. The foundation of our reputation is the dedication and attention that we offer to each of our clients and to their legal problems. Our Oklahoma City personal injury lawyers are scrupulously attentive to our clients’ objectives. Our mission is to meet our clients’ expectations efficiently and effectively—to be an ally on whom they can rely with complete trust and confidence.

A personal injury lawsuit may be brought when someone has been injured by another party’s intentional or negligent acts. This type of lawsuit may be pursued in the context of injuries resulting from a car accident, a motorcycle accident, a slip and fall, or nursing home negligence, among other examples. Most personal injury lawsuits are pursued under a theory of negligence, which means that the plaintiff must prove that a duty was owed to them, the defendant breached the duty of care, and the plaintiff suffered injuries and losses as a result. Oklahoma follows a rule of modified comparative negligence. This means that a plaintiff's damages will be reduced in proportion to their percentage of fault, but they still can receive some damages unless they were 51% or more at fault.

Car accidents are a common basis for personal injury lawsuits in Oklahoma. All drivers have a duty to use reasonable care while operating their cars, and this duty can be breached by behaviors such as speeding, tailgating, drunk driving, distracted driving, failing to obey traffic signals and signs, and driving aggressively. When a driver fails to use reasonable care while operating a vehicle and causes an accident, it may be possible to hold the driver responsible. Your ability to recover damages from the at-fault driver may depend on whether they are insured. Unfortunately, some Oklahoma drivers do not drive with the liability insurance required by law. In these cases, our Oklahoma personal injury attorneys can help you pursue damages under your own uninsured motorist policy.

Often, drivers of larger vehicles do not see motorcyclists, and they may brake suddenly, cut in front of a motorcyclist, or make a left turn into a motorcyclist, causing serious injuries. If you are a motorcyclist involved in an accident, you should be aware that juries are frequently biased against motorcyclists, and insurance adjusters know this. The bias can affect your ability to recover damages, even when the driver of a larger vehicle was clearly to blame. This makes it especially important to consult an experienced personal injury attorney. As with other personal injury lawsuits, comparative negligence is applied to motorcycle accident cases. Your attorney can fight back against any argument that you were partly to blame.

In Oklahoma, property owners are expected to use reasonable care to maintain and repair their property for visitors. There are three categories of visitors, and different duties are owed to each of them. A personal injury attorney at our Oklahoma City firm can explain further how this works. For example, people who come onto property for the property owner's financial benefit are owed a duty of care in maintaining safe premises and providing warnings of hazards that are known or should be known. In a premises liability lawsuit, the accident victim will need to show that the defendant was responsible for keeping up the property, the defendant knew or should have known about a dangerous property condition but either failed to maintain the property or warn visitors of the risk, and the plaintiff suffered injuries as a result.

When you place your loved one in a nursing home, you trust that the home will provide appropriate care and follow applicable laws and regulations. Unfortunately, nursing home residents are often at risk of abuse. Nursing home abuse comes in many different forms, including physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, a failure to provide appropriate hygiene, a failure to provide medication and other medical care, financial abuse, and ignoring safety and health needs. Pressure sores, unexplained bruises and fractures, personality changes, and withdrawal are common signs of nursing home abuse. Nursing homes owe a duty to properly care for residents and protect them from abuse and negligence. If you or your loved one was injured through the negligence or intentional abuse of nursing home staff, an Oklahoma City personal injury lawyer can help you pursue damages.

Regardless of whether you are buying or selling real estate, it is crucial to protect your interests by hiring an experienced real estate attorney. Our firm handles issues such as real estate fraud, mortgage fraud, foreclosures, commercial lease disputes, the preparation of commercial leases, breach of contract claims, misrepresentation claims, breach of warranty claims, construction contract disputes, construction defects, quiet title actions, and easement and boundary disputes. Each party to a real estate transaction has various obligations under the law. For example, sellers of residential real property in Oklahoma are supposed to provide a disclaimer statement or a disclosure statement that includes all of the items that must be disclosed. While there are numerous forms that can be used, it is often important to consult an experienced attorney.

Buying a home or investing in commercial property may be one of the biggest decisions that you make in your life, and often the process is time-consuming. Unfortunately, some buyers discover that a property has defects. In some cases, a property owner may be able to recover damages through a construction defect lawsuit. Buyers may be able to pursue remedies through negligence, breach of contract, or statutory causes of action. For example, Oklahoma's Home Repair Fraud Act provides that someone can commit home repair fraud in multiple different ways, including if they knowingly enter into a consumer transaction for home repair and misrepresent a material fact related to the terms of the consumer transaction or the preexisting or existing condition of any part of the property.

Divorce and other family law matters can be very stressful for all of the parties involved. To obtain a divorce in Oklahoma, at least one spouse must have been a state resident for at least six months. It is possible to obtain a divorce on no-fault or fault grounds, but most couples choose no-fault divorces. At Shelton & Walkley Law Group, we handle matters related to divorce, spousal support, marital asset division, child support, visitation, prenuptial contracts, protective orders, child abuse protection, and paternity. We also provide consultations about guardianships, which can become necessary for minors, the elderly, or the incapacitated.

Estate planning can help you avoid the time and expense of probate or guardianships. There are several different kinds of documents that may need to be prepared in the course of estate planning, including wills, trusts, durable powers of attorney, and advance care directives. Wills, for example, allow a testator to name a personal representative for their estate and provide for a spouse, children, pets, and any other loved ones. In addition to estate planning, we provide legal representation to executors of wills when family members die, and we can help with various aspects of settling an estate. Our firm also handles probate litigation, such as will contests, breach of fiduciary duty claims, fraud claims, and appeals.

Regardless of the legal matter confronting you, it can be crucial to obtain knowledgeable counsel and representation. Our clients can expect an ally upon whom they can rely with complete confidence and trust. Call Shelton & Walkley Law Group at (405) 605-8800 or use our online form if you need a personal injury lawyer in Oklahoma City or assistance with other civil matters, ranging from divorce to property transactions. We can devise a strategy tailored to your needs.