Call Us Today Severe burn injuries are among the most painful and most expensive of all types of injuries. Minor burns often heal quickly on their own, but when someone suffers a severe burn, they often face at least one reconstructive surgery involving skin grafts and deal with debilitating pain.
If you have sustained a burn injury because of another party’s negligence, Florida law entitles you to seek damages in a personal injury lawsuit with the help of a Fort Myers burn injury lawyer.
You and your family shouldn’t have to suffer the devastating effects of an accident when another party’s negligence caused you harm. The Fort Myers personal injury lawyers at Viles & Beckman have four decades of combined experience holding liable parties accountable for their negligence. Find out how we can help you in a free consultation.
Why Should I Consult a Fort Myers Burn Injury Lawyer?
In Florida, the law allows accident victims, including burn victims, to seek compensation from the at-fault party (if there is one). Our lawyers offer a free initial consultation, so you can sit with a burn injury lawyer in Fort Myers, discuss your case, and make an informed decision about whether you want to pursue a case–all without laying out any money.
If compensation is potentially involved, being represented by a burn injury lawyer most often substantially increases the amount of the settlement you are offered. If insurance companies call you to make an offer for a quick settlement, do not agree to anything without consulting your personal injury lawyer.
You may inadvertently lock yourself into an agreement that provides you with less money than the amount that your lawyer will be able to negotiate for you.
How Long do I Have to File a Claim?
Burn injuries fall under Florida’s personal injury laws. If you and your lawyer decide to pursue a civil case to determine negligence and potential compensation, you generally have two years to file a claim. There are some exceptions to the statute of limitations; our firm will be able to offer professional and knowledgeable counsel and guidance.
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Where do Most Burns Occur?
The vast majority of burn injuries occur at home. The second most likely place to sustain a burn is at the workplace. Car accidents and motorcycle accidents can also lead to burns.
Burn injuries can fall into four types: thermal, chemical, electrical, or radiological. According to the American Burn Association, the top six causes of burn injuries are:
- Contact with flame or fire (46%)
- Contact with steam, hot water, spilled coffee (scalding) (32%)
- Contact with hot objects or appliances, such as ovens or irons (8%)
- Contact with electricity or a live electricity wire (4%)
- Chemical burns (3%)
- Other causes, such as sunburn, fireworks, or smoke inhalation (7%)
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Common Causes of Burn Injuries
According to the American Burn Association, almost 500,000 people per year sustain burn injuries that require medical treatment. Among those who suffer injury, about 40,000—including 30,000 at burn centers—require at least short-term hospitalization.
Receiving the appropriate treatment for a burn requires the burn victim, or someone on his or her behalf, to tell the doctor the source of the burn. The five main sources of burns are sunlight, heat, radiation, chemicals, and electricity.
Doctors treat chemical burns differently than sunburns and electrocution burns differently than heat burns, etc.
More specifically, the most common causes of burns include:
Scalds
A scald occurs when steam or hot liquid burns a person’s skin. Several different activities might lead to a scald, such as dining out, cooking, or bathing. A server in a restaurant might spill hot coffee, hot water, soup, or some other hot liquid.
Those who work in the food service industry are especially at risk for scalds while cooking in busy kitchens where pots and pans might get knocked over. Unattended children in the kitchen or the bathtub may sustain severe scalds if they accidentally spill hot liquids or run hot bathwater.
Fires
The ignition of a fire might be purposeful or accidental and may stem from a variety of sources. Everything from electrical shorts that cause a spark, unextinguished cigars and cigarettes, explosive car crashes, unattended campfires, and spontaneous combustion might start a dangerous fire.
Flammable liquids literally add fuel to the fire and can lead to dangerous and fiery explosions. Examples of flammable liquids include gasoline, propane, ammonia, ethanol, butane, and hydrogen.
When people get trapped and cannot safely escape a building fire, motor vehicle fire, or wildfire, the result is often severe and catastrophic burns.
Harsh Chemicals
Whether cleaning or doing tasks at home or on the job, many people come into contact with harsh chemicals every day. Exposure to harsh and toxic chemicals is not only dangerous for a person’s lungs, but also when some chemicals make contact with skin, they can cause painful chemical burns.
Examples of common culprits that corrode the skin and cause burns include bleach, chlorine, ammonia, denture cleaners, teeth whitening products, and battery acid.
Medical Treatment
The medical field uses radiation to treat cancer patients; radiation can shrink or eliminate some tumors. Although less common, doctors also treat thyroid disease, blood disorders, and other types of tumors with radiation.
Those who need x-rays and other diagnostic imaging also face exposure to radiation. When a person’s body is exposed to too much radiation, they can suffer damage to the skin and other tissues inside of the body.
Live Electrical Wires and Outlets
Electricity creates potential burn hazards for many. Defective products, sloppy electrical work, and loose wires can cause a fire, and direct contact can cause electrocution. Unprotected outlets can also be dangerous for young children.
The National Institutes of Health reports four main types of electrical injuries:
- Flash injuries refer to superficial burns where no electrical current travels through the body.
- Flame injuries occur when an arc flash throws a spark and ignites clothing. Sometimes current passes through the skin.
- Lightning injuries occur when an electrical current flows through a person’s body. These injuries involve short bursts of energy with very high voltage.
- True injuries refer to electricity flowing through a person’s body to the extent that they become part of an electrical circuit.
If your accident was caused by another party’s negligence, our burn injury lawyers in Fort Myers can help pursue compensation from the liable parties.
Click To ContactEvaluating Burn Injuries
The severity of your burn injury will play a part in the amount of damages you might recover in a personal injury lawsuit. General physicians, burn specialists, and other medical professionals evaluate the severity of a burn by the extent to which it penetrates through the skin and body.
You’ve heard this evaluation expressed as first–degree, second–degree, and third–degree burns.
While you might know that first-degree burns are minor and third-degree burns are severe, you might not know exactly how medical professionals distinguish between the various degrees. The following broad guidelines will give you an idea of the different levels of burn injuries:
First-Degree Burns
First-degree burns are minor burns that only cause injury to the epidermis, the outer layer of skin. Typically, those who sustain a first-degree burn do not need to see a doctor.
Basic first aid involving some cold water, burn ointment, and a bandage will help these minor burns heal quickly. If a burn victim suffers a first-degree burn on a large piece of or all of their body, they should seek medical attention.
Second-Degree Burns
Permeating deeper into the human body, second-degree burns extend past the epidermis into the next layer of skin on the body, the dermis. Second-degree burns require more time to heal, and in some cases, doctors might have to perform a skin graft.
The approach doctors use to treat second-degree burns hinges on the source of the burn and how much of a person’s body suffered a burn.
Third-Degree Burns
Third-degree burns extend through both the dermis and the epidermis. Burn victims must undergo reconstructive surgery, which includes a skin graft.
Third-degree burns cause excruciating pain and require hospitalization so doctors can manage pain and potential infections until sufficient healing has occurred. It’s not uncommon for those who suffer third-degree burns to have permanent scars because of their injuries.
Catastrophic Burns
The term “catastrophic burns” refers to all burns that are more severe than third-degree burns. Variance exists among catastrophic burns. The least severe catastrophic burns permeate the skin and layers of fat and muscle. In the most severe catastrophic burn cases, the skeletal system might be exposed in one or more areas.
Most who suffer catastrophic burns go into shock and need to be kept in a medically induced coma until a substantial amount of healing occurs and physical pain subsides. Catastrophic burns can be fatal, even during recovery, because they open the body up to infection and affect other vital body processes.
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Insurance Companies Are Not Always on Your Side
If you bring a lawsuit against another party to seek compensation for damages related to your burn, expect them and the involved insurance carrier to employ every possible tactic to avoid financial liability. Some strategies the defense might use to devalue your burn claim include:
Shifting Blame to You
Florida courts apply pure comparative negligence to personal injury claims, including those that involve burn injuries. Comparative negligence refers to the idea of shared liability, assessing the extent to which you might have contributed to your burn injury. If the court determines that you contributed to your burn, it will reduce your damages award according to your percentage of fault.
Comparative negligence motivates defense teams to shift the blame to reduce financial liability. They might argue you were using a product improperly, didn’t heed printed warnings, or should have known the danger and risks of the source of your burn.
Downplaying Your Burn Injuries
Another way the defense might try to avoid financial liability is by suggesting that your injuries are not as bad as you claim. Your attorney will ask for a specific amount based on your expected recovery plan, which may include multiple surgeries and treatments.
The defense might argue that you have overestimated the cost of future medical expenses and the amount of time that you need for a complete recovery, if possible.
Making a Quick Settlement Offer
After an insurance company investigates a burn injury, they have a good idea of whether a court will hold the policyholder liable for damages. This sometimes prompts insurance companies to make low settlement offers right away, so they can avoid a large payout during litigation.
These initial offers are especially attractive to victims who are financially struggling because of missing work and amassing medical bills. Yet, initial offers are typically far lower than what they should be if another party’s careless choices led to a severe burn.
Accepting an early offer prevents you from suing for more money in the future, making it imperative for you to contact an attorney for advice before signing on the dotted line.
An experienced Fort Myers burn injury attorney understands how comparative negligence works in Florida and knows how to protect you from defense strategies intended to devalue your claim.
Who Is Responsible for a Burn Injury?
Sometimes establishing liability for a burn injury is very difficult:
- Did the head of a company ignore safety precautions?
- Was there a device that malfunctioned due to a manufacturing or design defect?
- Was there faulty wiring in a building?
- Were safety code violations purposely ignored?
- Did another driver’s inattention cause the car accident that you were burned in?
- Were the car’s brakes faulty?
- Were flammable materials not stored correctly in the workplace?
- Was there negligence by a third party?
Alternatively, some burn injuries are strictly accidental.
That’s why it is of paramount importance to hire and work with the best local burn injury lawyer you can find. An experienced lawyer will be with you every step of the way in the long process of resolution of your lawsuit whether you suffered a burn injury after a defective product explosion or in another incident that was another party’s fault.
Recouping Loss After a Burn Injury
If your Fort Myers burn injury lawyer negotiates a favorable settlement or the court rules in your favor, you might receive financial compensation for the following damages and losses related to your burn injury:
- Medical expenses, including ambulance and emergency services, hospitalization, diagnostic imaging, skin grafting and other reconstructive surgery, aftercare, and pain medication
- Future medical treatment when your burn injury requires multiple surgeries with extensive recovery time or results in a permanent disability or condition requiring around-the-clock care for life
- Rehabilitation costs to help restore functions lost due to a burn injury, such as physical therapy, and assistive devices, such as wheelchairs, canes, and walkers
- Lost wages for missing work due to treatment and recovery
- Future lost wages when a severe burn causes extensive damage which prevents you from returning to your job or requires you to reduce your hours
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of consortium
- Scarring and disfigurement
Contact a Fort Myers Personal Injury Law Firm for a Free Case Evaluation
The skilled legal team at Viles & Beckman has more than four decades of experience helping injured clients seek fair compensation for damages related to burn injuries caused by other parties’ negligence.
Our passion for seeking justice for our clients has resulted in the recovery of millions of dollars in damages from verdicts in favor of the plaintiff and settlements before litigation.
Check out our client testimonials and case results, then contact us today for a free consultation.
Call or text (239) 334-3933 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
