Of all major injuries, burns are some of the most painful and difficult to recover from. They also carry a tremendous risk of infection and other complications. When burn injuries are very serious, you can potentially spend weeks or months in the hospital. The experience can cause significant financial hardship, dramatically reduce your quality of life, and wreak havoc on your mental health. Even when your injuries do heal completely, you may be left with disfiguring scars. If your burns were directly caused by someone else, you shouldn’t have to handle the physical, emotional, and financial consequences alone. Get in touch with Wapner Newman to speak with a Levittown burn injury lawyer today.
Financial compensation can’t erase the harm your burn injuries have done to you, but when you have the right financial support, you won’t have to worry about paying for medical bills, physical therapy, and other kinds of therapy to help you adapt to life with a serious injury. Compensation can also help you cover basic living expenses, which can be difficult to pay if your injury stops you from working.
Who Is Responsible for Burn Injuries?
Assigning Fault Isn’t as Easy as It Sounds
Any burn injury lawyer can tell you that there are seemingly endless ways burn injuries can occur. If your injuries were caused by another person acting recklessly, negligently, or intentionally, you may be able to recover compensation from them. That compensation can cover the costs associated with your injury and attempt to soften the blow of your physical and emotional pain.
In some cases, you may be the only one responsible for your injuries. However, it sometimes turns out that burns that initially seemed like true accidents were actually caused by negligence. Here are a few common examples of cases where someone else would likely be legally responsible for your burn injury:
Structure Fires
If you are burned in a house or apartment fire, another person may be to blame. An obvious example is arson. If someone sets your office on fire and you’re severely burned, you may be able to pursue the arsonist for damages. However, some fire investigations may find that the fire was a clear result of negligence. For example, if the electrician who worked on your home didn’t wire it properly and the wiring caused a fire, that electrician might be legally responsible for your injury.
Car Accidents
When most people think of burn injury lawyers, they picture attorneys who help people who have been disfigured in house fires. That’s certainly part of it, but many of the severe burn injuries we see happen as a result of car accidents. These burns can be extremely severe, especially if the victim is unconscious from the accident or trapped in the car when the fire breaks out.
Unsafe Water Temperature
Generally, people who manage apartment complexes, hotels, and public facilities are responsible for making sure the hot water doesn’t get too hot. If they allow the temperature to exceed normal thresholds and you suffer burns as a result, the person or organization responsible for maintaining the premises may be held liable.
Hot Liquid Spills
If you spill hot liquid on yourself, there’s a good chance that no one else can be held liable for your injury. But if someone in a public place spills hot liquid on you, that’s a different story. For example, if you’re at a restaurant and a waiter drops a carafe of hot coffee on you, the restaurant may be responsible for your burns.
Defective Products
Manufacturers have a legal and ethical obligation to ensure the products they make are safe for the general public. If you suffer a burn because you misused a certain product, it’s unlikely you’ll receive any kind of compensation. However, if you were hurt because the product itself was defective, one of our burn injury lawyers in Levittown may be able to help you recover compensation. Some products are more prone to causing injuries when defective than others. These are some common culprits:
- Vapes
- Electric blankets
- Lithium batteries
- Portable heaters
- Gas grills.
Determining whether burns happened because a product was defective (or whether they were caused by user error) can be tricky. However, when you work with a burn injury attorney, your lawyer will be able to look closely at the circumstances of your accident and the product itself to find out whether the manufacturer could be liable.
The only way to really know how much your case may be worth is to talk to a Levittown burn injury attorney. Call Wapner Newman at (215) 569-0900 for a free consultation and case review.
How Does the Legal Process Work?
If you’ve been severely burned and you believe another person or organization is responsible for your injuries, you should get in touch with a burn injury attorney in Levittown as soon as you can. Here’s what you can expect once you schedule your free consultation.
Consult With an Attorney
Burn injury lawyers can’t take on every case they see. In almost every case, personal injury attorneys work on contingency, meaning they only receive compensation as a portion of any money you recover. If you don’t have a decent chance of recovering a fairly substantial sum, a lawyer may not take your case.
Build Your Case
If a lawyer does take your case, they’ll then get to work building a case against the responsible party. It’s primarily your lawyer’s responsibility to build a case, but you can help by giving them copies of any useful documentation:
- Police reports or accident reports
- Medical bills
- Medical discharge summaries
- Proof of lost wages
- Photos of your injuries.
Your attorney will let you know if they need any other kind of documentation or evidence from you as they construct your case.
Negotiate
Most personal injury cases are settled out of court. It takes time and money to litigate, and usually both your lawyer and the other party’s lawyer would rather keep the case out of the courtroom if possible. After the lawsuit is filed, your lawyer will attempt to negotiate a settlement with the other side. If they can reach a number that is acceptable to you, the other party will pay you (and the case won’t have to go to court).
Go to Trial
Sometimes, the attorneys involved in a case simply can’t reach an agreement. When that happens, the case must be decided in a courtroom. During this civil trial, each side will have the opportunity to present evidence and argue a case. A judge or jury will then decide whether the other party should be held legally responsible for your injuries. If they are, they will be ordered to pay you a particular sum of money.
When a case like this is decided in court, you get what’s called a “judgment” against the other party. This means that a court has ordered them to pay you. If they don’t, you might be able to have their wages garnished or put a lien on their property.
FAQs
For many of our clients, working with us is their first experience with the legal system, and they understandably have questions. These are some of the questions our burn injury attorneys are most frequently asked:
How much is my case worth?
Many different variables — including the severity of the injury, the degree of negligence of the other person, and your total cost of medical care — factor into the valuation of your case. The only way to get an accurate estimate is to consult a Levittown burn injury lawyer.
How much does it cost to work with you?
We work on a contingency basis. This means that if we take your case, you pay us a percentage of any compensation we recover for you. If you don’t receive any compensation, you pay us nothing.
Does your team focus only on burn injuries?
No. Our team of personal injury lawyers advocates for clients who have been injured in a variety of different ways.
Where is your office located?
We have four different offices. They are located in Philadelphia, Center Valley, New Jersey, and West Conshohocken.
If you have a question you don’t see listed here, feel free to contact us. We aren’t just committed to fighting for our clients in court — we also take pride in offering the compassionate guidance and support you deserve during this difficult time.
Why Choose Us?
When You Need Strong Representation, Wapner Newman Is Here for You
We understand that when it comes to choosing a personal injury lawyer to represent you, you have options. So why choose Wapner Newman? The answer is simple: we get results. Our hardworking team of Levittown burn injury lawyers has recovered millions of dollars for our clients, and we might be able to help you, too.
If you’ve suffered a burn injury because of someone else’s carelessness or negligence, we want to hear from you. Call Wapner Newman today at (215) 569-0900 or chat with us online for a free consultation.