Our top-rated San Francisco law firm frequently takes calls from clients who have sustained burn injuries and want to pursue personal injury lawsuits against responsible parties. They ask to speak with an expert attorney who has experience handling burn injury claims. Burns can be serious and severe, limiting your work ability and decreasing your quality of life, even with just a few moments of exposure. The aftermath of burns is hardly simple, as you will be subjected to a lot of pain and high sensitivity; some burns even leave unsightly scars and other reminders of the injuries. When our clients approach our experienced lawyers with stories of how they were burned, they usually end with questions on how best to proceed. They ask us questions like:
- I was burned while walking near a building site. Can I sue the company?
- Can I sue someone if I get first degree burns?
- Can I sue someone if I have scars from burns?
- I need a lawyer for burn bodily injury in San Francisco. Who do I call?
- Who is a good burn injury attorney in San Francisco?
Where Burns Can Happen
You can sustain a burn injury in any environment in San Francisco from numerous sources. Some burns are very common – touching a hot plate at a restaurant or getting splashed by hot grease while cooking, for example. These are called thermal burns and come about by fire or heat exposure. Other burns are rarer, such as electrical burns (which happen due to electrocution) or chemical burns (which are the result of corrosive or caustic substances burning your flesh). Most electrical and chemical burns occur in the workplace and are sustained by people who are at risk for them the most by virtue of holding such a position. Thermal burns, on the other hand, happen to people all the time and are not limited to any one place.
Thermal burns happen in various locations, including, but not limited to:
- School / Daycare/ Child Care Centers: Children are most often the victims of burns in schools or child care centers. Any number of causes can result in a burn, such as improper wiring on a light switch, old or outdated electronic equipment, or even negligence by other students and teachers in science classes or in the cafeteria. Children need to be watched in order to make sure they are not out hurting themselves; any negligence by an authority figure may allow you to sue the school or sue the day care in the event your child is harmed by a burn.
- Hospitals / Urgent Care Centers: If you are a victim of medical malpractice and you receive burn injuries while in a hospital or healthcare center, you have many options to recover damages for your injuries. You may sue the doctor for surgical errors or sue the hospital for improper medical care if, for instance, a tool used to burn and cauterize tissue hit healthy parts of your body and caused additional harm.
- Construction Sites: Burn injuries at construction sites may be some of the most severe and pressing issues, as there is usually an increased risk of infection due to all the particles in the air. When burns happen at construction sites, they are usually the result of electrical equipment or improper handling of electrical wiring. You may not even be a construction worker, only a bystander walking near the site, and an exposed wire may give you an electrical burn.
- Faulty or Defective Products: Burn injuries caused by defective products can occur in any location at any moment. Some products or parts of products are not properly tested or have a tendency to malfunction in certain conditions; for example, in recent times, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 tablets caught fire after their batteries exploded, leading to various reports of injury and lost belongings. This could happen in any place in the world as long as you carry your phone with you. In the event that a product malfunctions and you receive a burn injury, you can make a motion to sue the manufacturer for damages sustained from the defective product.
- Workplace: Although California state law dictates that you can file for worker’s compensation for any injury sustained at the workplace, including burns, you can also file additional claims against responsible parties, especially if negligence were involved. If you were exposed to harmful chemicals that burned your arms while you were at work (and you are not a chemical engineer or similar position), you may be able to sue your employer or sue the company you work for to receive additional compensation.
- Home / Apartment Building: If you are in the home of another person or in your apartment building and you receive a burn injury, you may be able to file a personal injury claim against a responsible party. For example, if your landlord did not hire an electrician to make sure all of the wiring in your apartment was properly set up, he may be liable to cover the costs of any damages you receive if you sustain an injury due to his negligence.
If you have been affected by a thermal burn, an experienced attorney can help you pursue compensation.
Burn Information
All three types of burns (thermal, electrical, and chemical) are measured in two different ways: the degree of the burn, as in how far down it affects the flesh; and the severity of the burn, as in how much of the body is affected.
Occasionally, some burns occur from a very intense source; passing your finger over a lit flame, for instance, is not as dangerous as holding your hand to an open torch. However, a substance like hydrofluoric acid can warp flesh and eat away skin with very little exposure time. It should still be noted, though, that chemical burns, although extremely dangerous, are not common. Thermal burns, on the other hand, are very common.
When you sustain a first-degree burn, only the outer layer of the skin, called the epidermis, is affected. The skin gets red and may be painful to the touch, but it heals after a few days. Grabbing a hot coffee pot may burn you in this manner.
If you receive a second-degree burn, your epidermis and your dermis, the second layer of skin, are damaged. Again, there is redness and a general amount of pain to the area, but blisters may also appear, and if not taken care of, can pop and get infected. An electric shock may cause a second-degree burn.
The damage of a third-degree burn is brutal: it passes both the epidermis and the dermis and causes harm to deeper tissue, leaving behind a blackened, charred, or whitened area of flesh that may have no sensation at all due to the damage to nerves and such. Longer exposure to open flames or dangerous substances can cause third-degree burns.
A fourth-degree burn is the result of very long exposure to heat or a corrosive substance; the tissue is completely affected, and muscle, ligament, and bone may also be burned. These burns often require extensive medical treatment, and the affected area may be amputated or removed in some way to prevent further damage from accruing.
Burn severity, however, does not deal with how deep down the injury occurs. Minor burns cover up to 15% of the body, and can be treated at most health centers; moderate burns cover 15% to 25% of the body and generally require some closer care than minor burns. Major burns cover over 20% of the body, but may also be categorized as such if they affect the hands and face. When these burns damage a joint, they may also be categorized as major; unlike minor and moderate burns, major burns should be treated at a specialized burn treatment center.
In the aftermath of an injury, an accomplished attorney who has experience in burn cases can help you take legal action.
Settlement Possibilities
If you have been burned at any of the above locations and your injury has caused you pain and suffering, racked up medical expenses, and prevented you from earning income at work, you may have ample grounds to file a personal injury lawsuit against the responsible parties. The size of the settlement you receive has multiple factors that determine what is fair compensation; first degree burns that don’t cover much of your body may not yield a large sum, but second-degree burns that cover 15% of your body may bring in amounts of upwards of $10,000. The amount of scarring and disfiguration is also considered and can further increase the settlement size.
For more information on potential settlement values, reach out to a qualified attorney with expertise in burn injury lawsuits.
Free Consultation and Zero Fee Guarantee
Our skilled San Francisco lawyers are experienced in personal injury cases and will aggressively pursue the maximum settlement you deserve. Call our top law firm today to receive a free legal consultation on your case and to learn more information about similar burn claims. We feel that all our clients should be knowledgeable about the legal process and as well informed as they can be about what courts look for when hearing personal injury lawsuits about burns. A lawyer experienced in burn injury cases can give you more information.
Further, our San Francisco law firm abides by a zero fee guarantee with all cases we take on – you don’t pay any out of pocket expenses unless we win your case and net you a fair settlement. Throughout the litigation process, you owe no fees, and only pay for our services when you receive compensation. You do not need to worry about ongoing expenses while our experienced lawyers handle your case.
Call one of our compassionate San Francisco attorneys with experience in burn injury cases today to discuss your case and have a skilled lawyer represent you.
