California Burn Injury Attorneys

Choose California’s Trusted Team of Attorneys

When you’ve suffered a severe burn in an accident, Alvandi Law Group, P.C. wants to help you recover by offering our trusted legal counsel. For more than 20 years, we have been helping people across California explore their legal options in a variety of catastrophic injury case types, including burn injury claims. Our efforts have successfully recovered more than half a billion dollars through settlements and awards, too. When it comes to fighting for the wrongfully injured in our communities, very few law firms across California can boast the same experience and results that we can, which is why we believe we should be your first and only choice when picking a burn injury attorney.

We’d like to talk to you about your case. Call (800) 980-6905 to request a free case consultation.

Degrees of Burn Injuries

The severity of your burn injury, as it is diagnosed by a medical expert, can be important for your injury claim. Typically, the higher the degree of a burn, the more destructive it is, and the more compensation that will be needed to recover.

Burn injuries are sorted into degrees, including:

• 1^st: Mild burn injury that usually heals with at-home first-aid techniques; usually not the grounds for an injury claim.
• 2^nd: Serious burn injury that requires urgent medical attention; may cause health complications if it does not heal correctly.
• 3^rd: Severe burn injury that requires emergency medical care; may be fatal or cause permanent health complications.
• 4^th or higher: Catastrophic burn injury that is typically not considered survivable due to the intensity and spread of the burn.

Common Causes of Burn Injuries in California

Burn injuries often result from accidents or negligence, with three common causes being:

• Workplace accidents: Workplace incidents, particularly in construction or industrial settings, frequently involve exposure to hazardous chemicals, electrical faults, or explosions, leading to severe burns.
• Motor vehicle: Motor vehicle accidents, including car crashes and truck collisions, can cause victims to suffer burns from fuel fires or contact with hot engine components.
• Housefires: Residential fires sometimes start due to faulty wiring, defective appliances, or unsafe electronics.

Complications from Burn Injuries

Burn injuries are notoriously difficult to treat due to the extensive and intricate nature of the damage they inflict on the skin and underlying tissues. The healing process is often prolonged and fraught with complications, even with top-tier medical care. The severe pain and potential need for multiple surgeries add further layers of difficulty in managing burn injuries effectively.

If you have suffered a severe burn injury, the following complications may occur:

• Infections: Burn wounds are highly susceptible to bacterial infections, which can lead to sepsis if not effectively treated.
• Scarring and contractures: The healing process often results in significant scarring, and contractures that tighten the skin, muscles, and tendons around the affected area can limit movement.
• Chronic pain: Persistent pain from nerve damage and the burn injury itself can continue long after the initial wound has healed.
• Psychological impact: Burn injury survivors often experience long-term psychological effects, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety, stemming from the trauma and physical changes.

When to Consider a Burn Injury Lawsuit

If a burn injury was caused by someone else's mistakes, whether through negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct, you should consider filing a burn injury lawsuit with our help. You don’t want to get stuck with significant financial losses for something that happened at no fault of your own, especially if you might have been able to make a financial recovery had you started a claim. If you have even the smallest hunch that someone else’s negligence might have caused your burn injury, it is worth talking to a California burn injury attorney from Alvandi Law Group, P.C. about what legal options might be available to you.

Elements of a Burn Injury Lawsuit

For a burn injury claim to be legally valid in the eyes of the court, four elements must usually exist:

1. Duty of care: The defendant must have had a legal obligation to ensure the safety or well-being of the plaintiff. In other words, they were required to act with a certain level of care to prevent harm to you. For example, each driver owes a duty of care to not hurt others with their vehicle.
2. Breach of duty: The defendant failed to fulfill their duty of care, either through action or inaction. This breach means they did not act as a “reasonably prudent person” would under similar circumstances.
3. Causation: There must be a direct link between the defendant's breach of duty and the burn injury sustained by the plaintiff. It must be proven that the injury would not have occurred if the defendant had not breached their duty.
4. Damage: The plaintiff must have suffered actual harm or losses as a result of the burn injury, which can include physical injuries, medical expenses, lost wages, and even non-economic damages like pain and suffering.

Types of Damages in a California Burn Injury Lawsuit

In a typical burn injury lawsuit filed by our team, we will generally pursue two types of damages:

• Economic: Damages and losses that can be tracked through tangible means, like receipts, bills, pay slips, etc. are economic. In a burn injury claim, the most common types of economic damages are related to past and future medical costs and past and future income loss.
• Non-economic: Damages and losses that cannot be easily tracked or quantified – but are no less important for it – are considered non-economic. In a burn injury claim, the most common types of non-economic damages are related to pain, suffering, and a lessened enjoyment of life.

In very rare cases, a judge might approve punitive damages that are meant to penalize the defendant for egregious negligence or wrongdoing, not compensate the plaintiff for loss. Also, if any of your property was destroyed in the same accident that injured you – like a housefire caused by a defective appliance – you may have the right to seek a recovery through a property damage claim, which is technically handled separately from an injury claim.

Statutes of Limitations for California Burn Injury Claims

In California, most burn injury claims are subject to a two-year statute of limitations, meaning that you have two years from the date of the injury to file a claim in court. If the claim is not filed within this timeframe, the court will most likely deny any claim you try to file after, so you effectively would lose the right to seek compensation. To avoid missing this crucial deadline, talk to our California burn injury attorneys as soon as you can after being injured.

Talk to our California burn injury attorneys today by dialing (800) 980-6905 and asking for a free case evaluation.