Los Angeles Burn Injury Lawyer

Burn injuries can be particularly devastating and often come with long, hard recoveries that require extensive hospitalizations and even multiple surgeries over a long period of time. The impacts of burn injuries are often long-lasting or even permanent as the scarring from these kinds of personal injuries can be extremely difficult to repair.

If you or your loved one has suffered from a burn injury because someone else was negligent, you may be wondering how to find the right burn injury lawyer to help you with your case. Holding the negligent responsible for their actions (or inaction) can mean recouping some of the losses associated with the injury. While a lawsuit may seem daunting — especially while you’re still in recovery — it’s important to understand all of your options.

HAVE YOU SUSTAINED A BURN INJURY IN LOS ANGELES?

If you were injured in Los Angeles, it’s important to know that California law places the responsibility of proving negligence on the injured party. To put it simply, if someone else is responsible for your burn injury, it’s up to you (and your legal team) to legally demonstrate it.

Sometimes, this responsibility is straightforward and obvious. Often, however, burn injuries are part of a complicated web of liability that can be difficult to untangle. An experienced and dedicated lawyer knows what questions to ask and how to gather the documentation needed to demonstrate liability and get compensation.

COMMON TYPES OF BURN INJURIES

 Burns can come in many forms. While the most common image associated with a burn injury is likely an open flame, there are many other kinds of burns that can cause painful and long-term damage:

• Thermal burns- These occur when the body comes in contact with hot surfaces or flames.
• Chemical burns- This kind of injury occurs when the body comes in contact with dangerous chemical substances.
• Scalds– Hot liquids can cause scalding, an especially painful type of burn injury.
• Electrical– These burns occur due to electrical charges, often from malfunctioning or damaged systems.

As the American Burn Association reports, burns from a fire or flame are the most common (accounting for 43% of injuries). Following flame-related injuries, scalds (34%), contact burns (9%), electrical burns (4%), and chemical burns (3%) made up more injuries.

WHAT TYPES OF ACCIDENTS RESULT IN BURN INJURIES?

Since burns can happen in many different forms, they are also associated with multiple types of accidents and incidents. Any time the body comes in contact with a hot surface or substance or a chemical capable of producing a burn, a burn injury is possible. Some of the most common causes of burn injuries include the following:

• Car accidents- During a car accident, there are often combustible substances that can ignite and cause burn injuries in addition to blunt force trauma injuries.
• Chemical spills- When dangerous chemicals are improperly stored or the storage system is faulty, burn injuries can result.
• Construction site accidents– Many burn injuries occur as workplace injuries, and construction is a frequent site of these kinds of accidents.
• Defective products– From the infamous too-hot coffee to a malfunctioning fireplace to anything in between, a defective product can cause burn injuries.
• House/building fires– Whether it’s at home or the workplace, those inside a building that’s on fire may suffer burn injuries.

The American Burn Association compiled data over multiple years to find that the majority (73%) of burns took place in the home. Meanwhile, 8% were occupational in nature, 5% were from roadways, and 5% were from a recreational cause.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A BURN INJURY?

As you can see from the list above, burn injuries result from multiple complex causes. This means that the responsible party may not always be obvious. If a burn is caused by a faulty product, for instance, the liability could lie with the manufacturer, but it may also lie with the supplier who produced the faulty element of the product.

Likewise, in the case of a car accident, the liability may lie with the driver of the other vehicle, but it could also be with the car manufacturer or even the entity that failed to maintain safe driving conditions on the road itself.

Piecing together the question of liability often requires some investigative work.

FINDING THE BEST LOS ANGELES BURN INJURY ATTORNEY

Receiving compensation for a burn injury will require proving that someone was negligent and liable. This will often require the work of a skilled burn injury lawyer who knows how to navigate the complex legal process of demonstrating liability.

You want to make sure you are working with an attorney who has experience with these kinds of injuries and who has successfully demonstrated negligence in complex cases in the past. Ask about your lawyer’s success rates and methods for investigation. The best lawyer for the job will be someone who is thorough, detail-oriented, and focused on the task.

Contact us today for a free consultation to discuss your burn injuries and your best course of action moving forward.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

CAN YOU SUE FOR A BURN?

You can sue for a burn injury if you can demonstrate that someone else is responsible for the injury. This often requires investigative work, especially if the negligence is connected to a faulty product or unsafe workplace conditions.

IS IT WORTH GETTING A LAWYER FOR A BURN?

Burn injuries are often very expensive to treat. Many require hospitalization and multiple surgeries. The damage done from an extensive burn can mean that the injured party is unable to work for long periods of time, accruing lost wages on top of expensive medical treatments. In addition, the disfiguration associated with scarring from burns can be psychologically damaging, and many injured parties seek mental health treatment as part of their recovery. All of these losses can add up to a substantial expense, and seeking compensation through a lawsuit can be one way to help make up for these costs.

An experienced burn injury lawyer will know the best path forward in order to demonstrate liability and get a settlement or trial response that can start to alleviate these costs.

DO BURNS COUNT AS TRAUMA?

Yes. Burn injuries are considered a type of trauma.