Your worst nightmare happened: Either you or a family member were burned and were hurt. You believe it was not due to you or your family member being at fault. Now you are wondering about getting an attorney to possibly getting some form of compensation.
Before you go ahead and enter “get burn injury attorney” into a web search engine, here are some things that you or your family should consider.
What Was The Severity of the Burn?
The ones that you have to worry more about are severe second degree, third degree and fourth degree (which is the worst, since every layer, including muscle and bone has been affected) burns. The end result can be scarring, lack of mobility or feeling in an area, and even death.
What Was The Cause of The Burn?
Did this happen at work using something that was normally safe? Did an electric blanket short out and cause a bad burn? Was it due to negligence on the part of a co-worker or someone else?
All of this has to be determined – and an experienced burn attorney can be a big help here. They can bring in experts to pinpoint the cause and bolster your case.
What Was The Overall Impact?
Did the burn cause you or your family member to miss a lot of time at work or even leave you or them incapable of ever working again? You could sue for lost wages and even potential future earnings.
If you or your family member were truly not at fault, then whoever was responsible needs to compensate you… and it may take the courts to do that.
Ideally, you or your family would contact an attorney as soon as possible. This way, all the details will be fresh and it will be easier to remember. The longer that time goes by, the more things will fade in your mind. There is also a statute of limitations, two years, for you to file a case.
These sort of things are traumatic, yes. An attorney will work with you to help you get through this. One thing you might be able to recoup is the cost of therapy for your emotional travails.
Ultimately, an attorney will work diligently to get you the money that you deserve. They will prioritize that and you will usually only have to pay if you win the case. That will be an investment that was well worth it.