Burns injuries can be devastating. Severe burns are painful, slow to heal, often leave permanent scars, and could limit the functioning of the affected body part.
When your burn injuries are the result of someone else’s reckless or careless actions, you could hold the negligent party liable for your losses. Working with an experienced catastrophic injury attorney is imperative to receiving the compensation you need and deserve for your injuries. A Lafayette burn injury lawyer at Tomeny | Best could gather evidence of negligence, identify the responsible parties, and hold them accountable for the harm you suffered.
Common Causes of Severe Burns
Burns often result from preventable accidents and unexpected events such as equipment or product malfunctions. When someone fails to use reasonable care to prevent a burn incident, a Lafayette attorney could seek damages from the careless party. Examples of situations where negligence causes burns include:
- Fires in apartment buildings due to faulty wiring
- Malfunctioning appliances such as pressure cookers or fryers
- Explosions at worksites
- Tanker accidents
- Chemical leaks
- Downed power lines
- Fireworks
Any situation in which another person, company, or government entity did not exercise reasonable care, leading to someone suffering a burn injury, can be the basis of a negligence claim.
A burn victim can seek damages even if they have partial responsibility for the incident that caused their injury. Louisiana Laws Civil Code §2323 requires each party that contributed to the plaintiff’s damages to pay a portion equal to their degree of fault. If an injured person is deemed 20 percent responsible for an accident, they can collect 80 percent of their damages from the other parties.
Damages for Burn Injuries
If a Lafayette attorney can prove another party bears at least partial responsibility for an incident that led to burns, the injured person could collect compensatory damages. Compensatory damages include special damages and general damages.
Special damages reimburse an injured person for the financial costs of an injury, such as lost time at work and medical expenses. Special damages also could include expenses such as travel to a hospital with a specialized burn unit, household help during recovery, and home renovations to accommodate a disability. A skilled Lafayette lawyer can use evidence such as receipts, invoices, health insurance statements, tax returns, and employment records to demonstrate financial losses from a burn injury.
General damages compensate for less tangible losses such as the experience of pain, disability, diminished quality of life, disfigurement, and changes to relationships due to a burn injury. Testimony and reports from the injured person, treating physician, and other experts could be necessary to prove general damages. Photographs and videotapes also are often useful to illustrate the permanent impact of a burn injury.
Do Not Delay When Taking Legal Action
An injured person must bring a lawsuit within one year of the date of the injury, or they most likely will lose the right to sue. Although many injury cases settle without going to court, the viable threat of a lawsuit generally leads responsible parties and their insurance companies to engage in good-faith negotiations. Acting before the legal time limit expires is critical.
The one-year time limit is especially challenging for burn victims because many people with severe burns spend months in the hospital and may require repeated surgeries over several years. The law requires these severely injured people to initiate a legal claim while they are recovering, which is where a lawyer comes in.
The Lafayette attorneys at Tomeny | Best are experienced in representing people with extensive injuries. They could manage contact with insurance companies, provide reasonable estimations of total damages, and work to ensure an injured person receives compensation commensurate with the severity of their injuries.
Work with a Lafayette Burn Injury Attorney
Burn injuries cause physical, mental, and financial hardship. The party whose negligence contributed to your suffering should be financially responsible for it.
Our Lafayette burn injury lawyers have the skills and experience to obtain appropriate compensation for your injuries. Call today to schedule your free initial consultation with a dedicated member of our team.
