Orange County Burn Injury Attorney

Burn injuries can be very severe, painful, and debilitating to the soul. Survivors not only must cope with the pain of their injuries and the resulting suffering and immense physical discomfort, but also the psychological and emotional scars that are associated with the subsequent disability and disfigurement.

Catastrophic burn survivors can also incur heavy and burdensome medical expenses that can persist for years. All of these issues result in extreme stress not only for the victims but for their loved ones as well.

Burn Injury Compensation

There are several categories of how people get burned:

  • Thermal
  • Chemical
  • Electrical
  • Radiation
  • Non-accidental/Assault/Abuse

They can occur in:

  • Residential and commercial fires
  • Plant explosions
  • Open Flames
  • Household chemicals
  • Workplace (nuclear, plants, construction)

Burn victims, if a case is valid, can receive 3 types of damages:

  • Economic Damages: related to work missed, medical expenses, and potentially lost wages.
  • Non-Economic Damages: In many burn injury lawsuits, victims are awarded damages for pain and suffering if the defendant is found to be liable.
  • Punitive Damages: In certain cases where there is evidence of particularly reckless conduct, the court may award punitive damages to a burn injury victim. Punitive damages can range in the millions of dollars and are usually designed by the US court system to punish the wrongdoer and make it too expensive (in the case of major corporations) to discourage the creation of future victims.

Famous Burn Injury Cases

In Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants, also known as the “McDonald’s coffee case,” a New Mexico civil jury awarded $2.86 million to Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old woman who suffered third-degree burns in her pelvic region when she accidentally spilled hot McDonald’s coffee on her lap after purchasing it.

Liebeck was hospitalized for eight days and underwent extensive and excruciating skin grafts, followed by two years of medical treatment. While some held the case up as the ultimate example for frivolous litigation, the courts ultimately sided with Liebeck and reasoned that McDonald’s essentially “should have known better.”

How Our Burn Injury Attorney Can Help

To help ensure you receive maximum compensation, it is important to contact a proven catastrophic injury attorney in Orange County to review your case. Even if you do not hire, the information they provide will likely be invaluable.

Legally, a person may choose to file a personal injury lawsuit. Such an action seeks to hold the person or entity responsible for the injury liable. Again, this may include fires and explosions, or chemical burns.

An example of this would be somebody who negligently left candles burning while sleeping, resulting in a fire and third-degree burns for the person living with them. Another example would be of a person neglecting to put the cap on a bottle of household chemicals, resulting in the chemicals being spilled on an individual.

For fire-related cases, one interesting thing to consider is that, when it comes to “traditional” house fires, much of the determination of liability can depend on forensics, and the ability to reconstruct the fire and ultimately find its cause. The abilities and technology of investigators have improved so much over the last thirty years (and are continuing to do so), that those found responsible for fires previously have now been exonerated due to bad or inconclusive evidence.

This is pertinent in the case of burn injury, because a thorough investigation is needed to determine who is ultimately responsible for the fire, and thus, the burns, and this is something that our attorneys will work diligently to uncover so as to ensure that we have the needed forensic evidence to be victorious in your case.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – Orange County Catastrophic Injury Lawyer – Burn Injuries

Burns are classified by degrees of severity. First-degree burns affect only the outer layer of skin (e.g., sunburn). Second-degree burns cause blisters and affect deeper layers. Third-degree burns destroy all layers of skin and can damage underlying tissue. Fourth-degree burns extend into muscle and bone. Third and fourth-degree burns are catastrophic injuries requiring extensive medical intervention.

Common causes include car accidents that result in fires, workplace accidents involving chemical spills or explosions, defective products that overheat or explode, and unsafe property conditions (premises liability) such as faulty wiring or non-compliant fire safety systems in buildings.

Compensation is calculated based on the victim’s total losses. This includes all past and future medical expenses (like skin grafts, surgeries, and physical therapy), lost income and future earning capacity, and significant non-economic damages for physical pain, psychological trauma, and permanent scarring and disfigurement.

Your absolute first priority is to seek emergency medical treatment. Severe burns require specialized care to prevent infection and minimize long-term damage. Once your medical condition is stable, preserve any evidence related to the accident (like a defective product or photos of the scene) and contact a burn injury lawyer before speaking to any insurance companies.

While you generally cannot sue your employer directly due to workers’ compensation laws, you may be able to file a third-party lawsuit against another negligent party, such as the manufacturer of faulty equipment that caused the burn or a subcontractor on a construction site. An attorney can determine if a third-party claim is possible.

Scarring and disfigurement from severe burns cause significant and permanent non-economic damages. This goes beyond physical pain to include emotional distress, public humiliation, depression, and a profound loss of self-esteem and enjoyment of life. These damages are a critical component of compensation in a burn injury case.

A life care plan is a detailed report created by medical experts that outlines all future medical needs for a catastrophically injured person. For a severe burn victim, this can include future reconstructive surgeries, ongoing therapy, pain management, and psychological counseling. It is essential for proving the full, lifetime cost of the injury.

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