San Antonio Burn Injury Lawyer
San Antonio Burn Injury Lawyer
Injuries and scars can be just the beginning of what may feel like a nightmare to a burn victim. The physical and psychological scarring alone can leave someone in a fragile state. When lost wages, medical bills from medical treatment, and physical pain and suffering are added to the mix of the trauma, a person can become overwhelmed quickly.
If you suffered serious burn injuries from someone else’s negligence, you have grounds to contact a San Antonio burn injury lawyer at Janicek Law. An example of negligence could include an employer failing to follow fire safety laws by not having regularly serviced fire extinguishers within a workplace. Other scenarios involve catastrophic burn injuries from failure to provide a sturdy fire escape or ionization smoke detectors in apartment buildings. In cases like these, the accident victim could potentially seek compensation for their burn injuries in a personal injury lawsuit.
Call 210-366-4949 to schedule a free consultation with a San Antonio personal injury attorney today.
Experienced Personal Injury Attorneys Helping Burn Injury Victims in San Antonio
Accident victims that suffer severe burn injuries could benefit from the guidance of a Janicek Law burn injury attorney sooner rather than later. For starters, one may face challenges seeking adequate compensation for severe burns from insurance adjusters. This is just one situation where an experienced burn injury attorney could potentially benefit you. Having personal injury lawyers on your side is imperative if you or a loved one has suffered an extensive injury due to someone else’s negligence.
The San Antonio burn injury lawyers at Janicek Law sympathize with the devastation that burn victims experience. Our compassionate attorneys will fight for you if you endure pain and suffering from serious burns.
Proving Negligence in a Burn Injury Claim
In order to prove negligence in a burn injury claim, the victim and their legal team must work together to prove the 4 Ds of negligence.
Janicek’s experienced burn injury lawyers will help you in proving:
- The responsible party owed you a specific duty of care.
- The responsible party breached this duty of care.
- Your burn injuries were directly caused by the responsible party’s breached duty of care.
- You suffered a variety of damages from your traumatic burning accident for which you deserve fair compensation.
Duty
Every personal injury case begins with a duty owed by the defendant to the victim.
For example, a landlord has the duty to follow fire safety rules and those outlined by the national fire protection association. Failure to follow fire safety rules includes regularly servicing fire extinguishers, smoke detector safety checks, or checking ionization smoke detectors reportedly for malfunctions and recalls.
A duty of care is simply an obligation to avoid causing any harm to another person and can even exist between two strangers. Essentially, every person on Earth has an inherent duty to cause no harm to other individuals.
Breach of Duty
Breach of duty, or duty dereliction, is the second element in a burn injury claim.
In order to have a valid burn injury claim, the victim must prove that the defendant breached their duty of care in some way. Without the event of a breached duty, a negligence claim would not be prosecutable.
A breach of duty often arises when an individual acts carelessly or without consideration for others. Even if the defendant’s intent wasn’t to harm anyone, this doesn’t negate their liability. Had it not been for the defendant’s lapse in judgment, the accident wouldn’t have occured.
When an individual has a duty to perform and has a breach of the intended duty, having argumentative facts to support that the breach caused the accident may be challenging without an experienced attorney at Janicek Law.
That Breach Caused the Accident
The third element to support evidence of negligence is providing proof that the breach caused the accident.
When a victim pursues legal action, he or she must prove the presence of negligence and that the negligent act directly caused the injury.
This means that the failure of the defendant to exercise a reasonable duty of care directly caused the victim’s injury. Even if the careless act isn’t solely to blame, the act (or lack thereof) must have contributed to the injury, at least.
While the cause of the accident can often seem easy to prove, this is not always the case. For personal injury claims, the burden of proof for causation falls on the victim or plaintiff.
If you suffered a burn injury, your injury lawyer must prove causation by a preponderance of the evidence. This means that the jury must determine that it is more likely than not that the burn injuries were caused by the defendant’s actions or inaction.
The Accident Caused Harm
When an accident causes serious harm, such as grave burn injuries, time is of the essence to speak with an experienced personal injury attorney. The suffering you or your loved ones have endured due to first-party or third-party negligence should not be tolerated.
An accident that causes catastrophic injuries can lead to significant expenses: medical bills, lost wages, and other serious injuries that are sometimes fatal. Our San Antonio catastrophic injury attorneys will fight for damages to compensate for this, as well as your family’s pain and suffering.
Comparative Negligence in Texas Fire and Burn Injury Cases
With Texas being a comparative fault state, a burn injury victim must present evidence that proves the other party was mostly at-fault for their injuries. That way, they can potentially recover appropriate compensation. If the court finds that a burn injury victim is more than 51% at fault for the injuries they suffered, then they cannot receive any monetary damages.
However, a burn injury victim can recover financial compensation if they are between 0-50% at fault.
A San Antonio burn injury lawyer at Janicek Law can help you prove an accurate percentage of fault so that you may receive justice.
Common Causes of Burn Injuries
Common causes of burn injuries include:
- Motor vehicle accidents
- Chemical plant and oil rig explosions
- Failure of ionization smoke detectors or other fire safety smoke detector issues
- Apartment building fires/general apartment fires
- Deadly house fires
- Electrical issues
Apartment Fires and Burn Injury Lawsuits in Texas
Apartment fires and related injury lawsuits in Texas can present their fair share of challenges. The San Antonio attorneys at Janicek Law have years of experience helping families recover compensation for lost wages, medical expenses, and follow-up treatment, as well as seeking justice for the pain and suffering that families like you and your loved ones have endured.
In Texas, apartment fires have been known to cause severe burn injuries among those involved. Failure of a smoke detector can happen at any time, thus causing fire safety endangerment among the residents who can become trapped inside.
Apartment building fires are among the most devastating accidents to occur, especially when there are fatalities resulting from negligence. If you or your loved ones are overwhelmed with medical bills, a workers compensation claim, or frustration from insurance adjusters due to a negligent party, call us today for a free consultation. Our San Antonio attorneys are ready to speak with you.
Is a Negligent Landlord Responsible for Your Burn Injuries?
A negligent landlord could be responsible for your burn injuries. Although many complex issues surround fire and burn claims, our attorneys will do their best to represent you in the unfortunate event of a tragic fire. Burn injury lawyers are fast to spot instances where negligence is present, or fire safety measures are not up to proper standards or codes.
There are many examples of a landlord’s negligence when it comes to implementing proper safety measures. Frequently, smoke detectors are not evaluated on a timely basis. Other scenarios include the improper maintenance of regularly serviced fire extinguishers or even failing to ensure they actually extinguish fires. Wires that are improperly installed or checked periodically can also be supporting evidence of a landlord’s negligence.
Texas Fire Hazard Laws for Landlords
Texas law requires that a landlord make a diligent effort to fix or repair any issues when it can cause physical health problems or the safety of the tenant. However, some stipulations are involved.
For instance,
- A tenant must be current or up to date on their rent.
- A tenant must make the landlord aware of the hazard in a formal complaint within an area where leasing payment is made.
- The hazard must not have been caused by the tenant or guest of the tenant.
If you have questions regarding Texas fire hazard laws for landlords, call Janicek’s lawyers today.
Smoke Detectors
The national fire protection association provides up-to-date recommendations and regulations for anyone with questions on preventing a fire—one of the most prominent being smoke detectors. The proper usage of a smoke detector can potentially save lives. Personal injury cases involving apartment fires are nearly doubled when smoke detectors are absent or fail to operate correctly.
Fire Extinguishers
The operation of a fire extinguisher can be pretty simple for most. However, in some instances, fire extinguishers can become hazardous. For example, people can inhale fire extinguisher solutions or even get the solution in their eyes. Additionally, someone else’s negligence can sometimes cause a fire extinguisher to malfunction.
Can I Sue My Landlord for Burn Injuries?
Yes, you can sue a landlord for burn injuries but only if the landlord’s negligence directly caused the fire incident that burned you. Burn injury lawyers at Janicek Law can carefully review your case to determine if your landlord is the one at fault.
Work-Related Burn Injuries
If you have been injured in a work-related injury, you may be able to recover compensation for some types of damages through a worker’s compensation program. Unfortunately, Texas law does not require all employers to have workers compensation insurance. Employers who do provide workers’ compensation insurance may even abuse injured employees who need the benefits. For example, an employer may fire an employee just for filing a worker’s compensation claim. If you’re injured on the job and you don’t have access to worker’s compensation OR your employer abused you for filing a worker’s compensation claim, contact our law firm for legal assistance.
Fires on Commercial Property and Business
If an extremely hot object or fire has injured you or someone you love on commercial property/business grounds, the business owner could be responsible for the damages under premises liability law. The attorneys at Janicek Law can help you determine if this is the case by reviewing your evidence.
Faulty Fire Safety Products Lead to Burn Injuries
There are times when even the safest equipment can fail us when we need it. The list of products’ reasons for the potential malfunction could be endless. Regardless of why the item was unable to produce the intended fire-safety measures, if someone becomes injured as a result of the malfunction, they can file a lawsuit against the product manufacturer.
Types of Burn Injuries
There are many different types of fire and burn injuries, and they can often be classified by the source of the wound and the extent of skin damage. Common classifications of burn injuries include:
- Chemical (strong acids or alkaline substances)
- Thermal (fire, explosions, hot objects)
- Electrical (sources of electrical units)
Burns can often be described as first-degree, second-degree, or third-degree, depending on the severity of the wounded skin.
First Degree Burns
First-degree burns are an injury to the top layer of skin. This injury can often be painful, dry, red, and inflamed.
Second Degree Burns
Second-degree burns damage the underlying dermis. This type of injury can often have clear blisters and be painful to the touch. Depending on how well this burn heals, it may not scar.
Third Degree Burns
A third-degree burn is a severe burn injury that can cause damage to the dermis, underlying bones, tendons, muscles, and much more. This injury appears white in color and remains without sensation due to destroyed nerves.
Fourth Degree Burns
Fourth-degree burns are an injury where bones are visible with possible charred coloring. This injury is known to cause permanent damages, sometimes requiring amputation.
Benefits of Filing a Burn Injury Lawsuit in Texas
People can endure burn injuries just about anywhere in their residence, outside their home, or even in a motor vehicle, and ultimately any atmosphere in which one has near contact with a flammable or heated object. Where and how a burn injury occurs can be a factor when determining an individual’s ability to take legal action against the claimed liable party. Janicek Law in San Antonio understands the proper measures to take in a burn injury lawsuit.
Burn Injury Damages
Damages that cause burn/fire injuries will fall into the categories of economic damages and non-economic damages.
Economic Damages for Burn Injuries
Economic damages may include past and future medical expenses, lost wages, rehabilitation expenses, property damages, and lost earning capacity.
Non-Economic Damages for Burn Injuries
Non-economic damages for burn/fire injuries are not directly related to an incurred expense. Examples of non-economic damages include pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium, permanent scarring and disfigurement, etc. If you’re wondering: what is loss of consortium worth in your burn injury claim? A San Antonio emotional distress attorney can answer this question and more about the non-economic damages you could recover.
Burn Injury Settlements
Our goal as personal injury lawyers is to provide hope for burn injury victims who have suffered from traumatic fires and accidents. Additionally, our burn injury attorneys fight for victims to receive an appropriate amount of financial compensation through the at-fault party or their insurance company.
Burn injury settlements vary greatly depending on a variety of factors, including the severity of the burn, where and how the burn injury happened, punitive damages availability, and more. Our San Antonio burn injury attorneys can analyze the details of your situation and help you calculate an accurate settlement amount.
Experienced Burn Injury Lawyer in San Antonio
If you have suffered a burn injury due to a negligent party, you need legal representation from Janicek Law in San Antonio. We have decades of combined experience in litigating burn injury claims. That’s why we’re the best, most compassionate team to have on your side during this impossible time. Call our law firm today at 210-366-4949 to schedule a free consultation.
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