According to the American Burn Association, 1.1 million significant burn injuries are suffered in the United States each year. They are caused by a range of accidents, including car crashes, electrical accidents, gasoline spills or explosions, flammable liquid explosions, building fires, industrial accidents, and power line injuries. Burn injuries are among the most devastating, expensive, and permanent types of injuries. If you have been involved in a serious accident, you should consider discussing your legal options with the aggressive burn injury lawyers at Payer & Associates. Over the past 20 years we have represented many injury victims and their families in burn and explosion cases and have guided many people in Miami and the surrounding cities through the process of pursuing monetary compensation from those who have harmed them in these types of serious accidents.
Establishing Liability for Burns Caused by Negligence
Burn victims must often undergo numerous surgeries involving skin grafts. They may face the threat of fatal infections and suffer for the rest of their lives. Even after some of these surgeries, they may be left permanently disfigured. The emotional and physical scars can last the rest of a victim’s life. When the burns are the result of someone else’s negligence or misconduct, you may be able to recover monetary damages.
To prove negligence, a burn victim will need to show the defendant’s duty of care, the defendant’s breach of duty of care, causation, and actual damages. To the extent that the accident may be partly the result of the victim’s own negligence, the jury will be asked to evaluate damages and also assign a percentage of fault to both the plaintiff and the defendant. The plaintiff then can receive damages that are proportionate to the defendant’s degree of responsibility for the accident. This is known as the pure comparative negligence rule.
If you successfully prove the defendant’s negligence, you may be able to recover both economic and noneconomic damages. Since they are based on subjective forms of harm, noneconomic damages can vary dramatically depending on how much pain and suffering or emotional distress the victim has endured. Economic damages are more easily quantified because they tend to account for objective costs like hospital bills and lost wages.
Many burn injuries arise out of the negligent operation of motor vehicles. While each person uses his or her own insurance policy to pay for certain expenses for minor injuries, accident victims can go outside the no-fault system and sue an at-fault driver in civil court if their injuries are serious.
In some cases, accident victims also may be able to receive damages for scarring and disfigurement. The extent to which a burn scar counts as disfigurement differ according to each case and are generally very significant.
Unfortunately, some burns and explosions may be so severe that the victim does not survive. When this happens, the family members of the deceased person may be able to pursue a wrongful death claim against those who were responsible for the loss of their loved one.
Discuss Your Burn Accident Claim with a Miami Burn Injury Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been severely burned in a explosion, electrical or car accident or another accident in the Miami area, the burn injury lawyers at Payer & Associates can help you determine an appropriate course of action. We have over 40 years of combined experience and can assist injured individuals and their families throughout the Greater Miami, such as in Hialeah, Miami Gardens, and South Miami. We also represent accident victims in the Lauderdale Lakes area. Call us or contact us online for your free confidential consultation with one of our attorneys. We are available for home and hospital visits upon request and are available to meet with you 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
