Serious Representation for Severe Burn Cases
BD&J in Riverside can help you seek a maximized compensation amount after suffering a severe burn injury due to someone else’s mistakes. Whether you were burned at work, visiting a friend or a commercial store, or in a car accident, we have the legal experience needed to navigate your case. Burn injury cases often have a high potential value due to the permanence of a burn injury and the chronic pain and suffering it can cause. It will be our mission to calculate that value accurately and aggressively pursue every last penny of it from any responding insurance companies.
Why go through a burn injury case alone when BD&J is here? Call (855) 906-3699 today.
Who Is Held Liable in Burn Injury Cases?
Liability in the case of a burn injury depends on the circumstances in which it occurs. The manufacturer, seller, or designer of a faulty product could be liable for a burn that occurred at home. If the accident happened in a hotel or restaurant, the venue owner may be liable.
Burn injuries commonly occur in the home and workplace. Most home burns are thermal injuries. Industrial accidents could lead to thermal or chemical injuries.
For workplace accidents, if the employer was negligent or failed to provide protective equipment, the liability may rest with them. A burn injury lawyer can advise you on this issue.
Minimizing Your Own Liability for Your Burns
In most burn injury cases, the defense and insurance company like to blame the claimant or plaintiff for their injuries. They know that it can be difficult to prove that you did not contribute to the cause of your burns if you are unprepared. At the least, they will try to place a portion of the liability on you to reduce how much is placed on their own client.
With our Riverside burn injury attorneys on your side, you will be ready for any insurance company or defense team tactics. We are renowned trial attorneys who have fought again and again for our clients, in and out of court. By studying available evidence and seeking new evidence through discovery methods and investigations, we can uncover critical information about your burn injury that can help prove you did not cause it.
Causes of severe burn injuries include:
- Open flames
- Hot surfaces or superheated air
- Caustic chemicals
- Electrocution
How you encountered any of these sources of severe burns will play a major role in how we craft your claim and prove you should not be found liable. For example, if you were burned by a defective product that became extremely hot during normal use, then we can consult with your doctor to prove your burns were more than likely caused this way.
Escalating Degrees of Burn Severity
Our Riverside burn injury lawyers will also want to speak to your medical providers to get an understanding of your burn’s severity. The worse the burn injury, the worse the prognosis and the greater the treatment required, which will add up to higher costs and damages associated with the injury.
Survivable burn injuries are typically sorted into 3 degrees:
- First: A mild to moderate burn injury that reddens the skin and causes pain, possibly for several days. First aid and in-home care should be able to treat a first-degree burn. Although, if you suffered a first-degree burn that became infected or otherwise led to other health complications, then you should consider talking with our attorneys to see if your case should be pursued.
- Second: A moderate to severe burn injury that destroys several layers of skin. Without urgent medical care, a second-degree burn can cause permanent scarring and debilitation in the affected area.
- Third: An intense burn injury that requires emergency medical care. Third-degree burns destroy flesh down to the bone. Patients often require reconstructive surgery, skin grafts, and lengthy hospitalization to alleviate the worst symptoms of a third-degree burn. Even with the best medical care, though, such a burn is expected to cause lifelong scarring and possibly chronic pain.
Compensation Types for Burn Injury Claims
What sort of compensation can you demand from the party or parties that contributed to your burn injury? The answer depends on how your life and your finances have changed since your accident.
You could potentially seek damages for:
- All of your medical care, including years of rehabilitation following a third-degree burn
- Wages you could not earn due to missing work
- Future income you will not earn due to new work limitations
- Emotional trauma you continue to experience, caused by your accident
- Pain and suffering you have endured as you healed
Rarely, a burn injury case can even include punitive damages to be paid to the plaintiff. Punitive damages are assigned by the court when it finds the defendant has acted so grossly negligent in their duty of care to other people that they should be further punished.
All damages in a burn injury case are difficult to pursue since insurers often fight adamantly to resist any sort of payout to the claimant. To seek fair damages with confidence and no extra stress on your shoulders, let BD&J and our Riverside burn injury lawyers represent you.
How Long Do You Have to File a Burn Injury Claim?
Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1, burn injury victims have 2 years from the date of the accident to file a civil suit, although there are some exceptions. Speak to a burn injury attorney in Riverside as soon as possible to ensure your suit is filed on time.
Call us at (855) 906-3699 or send an online contact form to begin.
