Burn injuries often cause significant physical and emotional trauma, resulting in substantial medical expenses and long-term loss of income for victims and their families. Such injuries can change one’s life in nearly every way imaginable. However, if someone else is responsible for the accident that caused these injuries, victims have the right to seek compensation under Ohio law.
For 40 years, Charles Boyk Law has been helping clients located in and around Toledo, Ohio, and has been fighting vigorously on behalf of burn injury victims and their families to recover damages. We are committed to using all of our available resources to secure the compensation you need and deserve, allowing you to recover from the devastating effects of your accident both physically and financially.
If you need experienced and dedicated attorneys to handle your burn accident case, call Charles Boyk Law. Our experienced legal team will assess the circumstances surrounding your burns, explain your legal rights in terms that you can understand, and provide you with all available legal options for securing your rightful compensation. A compassionate catastrophic injury attorney could pursue compensation on your behalf as you recover from your injuries.
What Leads to Burn Cases?
You can suffer burn injuries from a wide variety of activities, situations, or other circumstances. Some of these may be within your control and some may not. If you are burned because of another party’s negligence, you have the legal right to seek compensation for your loss, including pain and suffering damages. Some burn injury cases that may occur are caused by the following circumstances:
- Operating or working around faulty machinery or equipment that generates heat, such as welding equipment or steam pipes;
- Coming into contact with chemicals or other hazardous materials that can cause burns;
- A house fire, electrical fire, or other type of accidental fire;
- Electrical burns caused by faulty electrical equipment, such as exposed wires or overloaded circuits, in the workplace or public spaces;
- Scalding water burns caused by negligent behavior of caregivers in hospitals or long-term care facilities;
- Negligent handling of flammable materials, such as gasoline, in cases of motor vehicle accidents; or
- Burns caused by fireworks or explosives set off by another person in cases of negligence or intentional harm
A Toledo burn injury attorney can review the details of your accident to determine who may be held liable for the damages.
Four Degrees of Burns
Burns are categorized into four degrees, and each degree represents a different level of skin damage:
First-Degree Burns
First-degree burns affect only the outer layer of skin, called the epidermis. They cause redness, minor swelling, and pain but do not form blisters or penetrate below the skin’s surface. Sunburns are a common example of first-degree burns.
Second-Degree Burns
Second-degree burns damage the outer layer of skin and the layer underneath, called the dermis. They cause redness, swelling, and blistering, and the skin appears moist and shiny. These burns can be extremely painful and can cause scarring if not treated properly.
Third-Degree Burns
Third-degree burns penetrate through all layers of skin and can extend into the fat, muscle, and even bone beneath. The skin may appear blackened, white, or charred, and it may be numb due to the destruction of nerves. Third-degree burns require immediate medical attention and often require skin grafts or reconstructive surgery to heal.
Fourth-Degree Burns
Fourth-degree burns are the most severe type of burn, and they can penetrate all layers of skin and underlying tissue, including muscle and bone. The skin may appear charred or white, and the area may be completely numb due to the destruction of nerves. These burns are often life-threatening and require immediate medical attention, as well as extensive surgical intervention and ongoing medical treatment to manage the associated complications.
A compassionate Toledo attorney can help ensure a burn injury survivor is receiving the appropriate medical treatment for their injuries.
What Can I Recover for a Burn Injury?
A legal client who has suffered burn injuries may be entitled to recover damages for various losses and expenses related to their injuries. These damages may include:
- Medical expenses: this includes the costs of emergency treatment, hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation, and ongoing medical care;
- Lost income: burn injuries can often result in extended periods of time away from work or even permanent disability, resulting in lost wages and future earning capacity;
- Pain and suffering: victims of burn injuries may be entitled to recover compensation for physical and emotional pain and suffering resulting from the accident;
- Disfigurement and scarring: severe burn injuries can leave permanent scarring and disfigurement, which may be compensable;
- Property damage: in some cases, the victim’s property, such as clothing or other personal belongings, may have also been damaged in the accident; or
- Punitive damages: in situations where the defendant’s actions were particularly reckless or intentional, the victim may be entitled to recover punitive damages intended to punish the defendant and deter similar behavior in the future.
The exact damages recoverable in a burn injury case will depend on the specific circumstances of the accident, the severity of the injuries, and the impact they have had on the victim’s life. An experienced burn injury attorney in Toledo can help assess the full extent of the damages and work to recover the compensation that the victim deserves.
How an Attorney Prepares a Burn Injury Case
A lawyer may typically begin preparing a burn injury case by meeting with the injured person and gathering all the factual information related to the injuries and the accident. A Toledo burn injury attorney may ask about the person’s lifestyle, work activities, social activities, and family activities before the burn accident occurred and then the implications after the burn. The attorney will want to obtain a complete medical history, photographs, and reports of all experts whether they are the treating doctors, trauma doctors, or a plastic surgeon. In regards to the implications on the injured person, a lawyer could get witness testimony from friends and loved one, specifically referencing the implications they have seen the burn have on the injured person’s life.
Examples of Qualifying Evidence
Qualifying evidence in a burn injury case may include photographs and someone verifying that the photos are fair and accurate representations of the injury. An attorney could also obtain medical records, depositions, testimony from the doctors talking about what their treatment was and what the permanency of the condition may be. The doctors could also verify to a reasonable degree of medical or psychological certainty that both the physical and psychological injuries were proximately caused by the burn injury.
Collecting and Presenting Evidence
An experienced Toledo burn injury lawyer could collect evidence including photos and documentation of the individual’s life before and after the accident which caused the burn injury. Many attorneys often create a video interviewing the burned individual to talk about their lifestyle, show their injuries, and interview significant others, family members, or co-workers. A lawyer’s job is to accurately portray the story of what happened. It is important to portray who the person is, what the implications of the injury are, and the future impact the injury may have from a social, economic, and emotional perspective on the rest of the person’s life.
Using Evidence to Establish Liability
The manner in which evidence is used to establish liability in a burn injury case could depend on the individual case. If there was a fire, an attorney could speak to fire experts and fire marshals talking about the cause of the fire, and whether there was a negligent party involved or not. A fire could also start when someone uses a product, such as a hair product, or some other product, and the product was misused or was defective. In such a case, it could be crucial to gather evidence about the standards for the use of the product, how it could have been misused, or if the product was inherently unsafe or dangerous. It may also be important to mention the standards for use are for that specific product under the FDA or whatever the applicable guidelines were, and an attorney may generally show how improper manufacturing caused the injuries in such a case.
Plaintiff’s Role in Gathering or Presenting Evidence
The plaintiff is a source of information to the team of attorneys. While a plaintiff could tell their story, it is ultimately the attorney’s job to create a specific and unique game plan for each individual case. Creating a plan may involve everything from getting to know the individual and their family at a substantial level, visiting their house, talking to their friends, and visiting their work. All of these are important factors a Toledo burn injury lawyer could use to best tell an injured victim’s story.
Role of Comparative Negligence
The doctrine of comparative negligence under Ohio law is controlling, meaning if someone was deemed to be 49 percent at fault for the burn injury, they could collect 51 percent of the comparative damages. The jury is asked to determine a percentage of faults between the parties involved in the case. Comparative negligence plays the same role in burn cases as it would in a car accident or any other personal injury case. The injured person collects 100 percent minus whatever their percentage of fault was. If they were 30 percent at fault, they would collect 70 percent of the damages. However, if the individual was found to be 50 percent or more at fault for the accident, then they would not be able to recover damages.
Seek Advice from a Toledo Burn Injury Attorney
If you have suffered an injury in a burn accident, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact a Toledo burn injury lawyer to see how our team could help you recover the damages that you deserve. Call today to set up a consultation with a knowledgeable and compassionate legal professional.
