Orange County Burn Injury Lawyer

Burn injuries are some of the most catastrophic and long-lasting personal harms an individual can suffer. Many burn injuries leave behind physical scarring and disfigurement as well as significant mental and emotional damage. A burn victim may have nightmares, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder for years following an accident. Serious injuries deserve the attention of qualified, skilled personal injury attorneys. Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP, help innocent victims of negligence-related burn accidents pursue their legal rights.

Common Types and Causes of Burn Injuries

A person can sustain a burn injury in many different situations, from car crashes to kitchen accidents. There are four main types of burn injuries:

1. Any time the skin comes into contact with a flame, steam, or hot surface, it can result in a thermal burn. Thermal burns (or heat burns) are the most common kind of burn and can occur in car accidents, scalds around the house, and fires. Thermal burns involve different layers of the skin depending on the severity of injury. Thermal burns can cause pain, redness, swelling, blistering, and tissue damage.

2. Electrical burns are another common type of injury. A person might suffer an electrical burn if struck by lightning, when coming into contact with a downed power line, while working with electrical components and equipment, or when touching a defective electrical product. Electrical burns occur when an electric current runs through the body. Electrical burns may not show extensive damage on the surface, but they can cause massive injury in the deep tissues.

3. Chemical burns occur when handling hazardous substances. Many workers have to deal with toxic substances on the job (such as acid), leading to many chemical burn injuries. An individual may also suffer a chemical burn when a product has an inadequate safety warning or a container has a defect that causes the liquid to leak. Burns can occur from liquid, solid, or gas chemicals. If you suffered a burn injury at your workplace you may be able to recover compensation with help from an Orange County workers compensation attorney.

4. Radiation burns are those from ultraviolet rays. A person may acquire a radiation burn during radiation therapy for cancer treatment, from the sun, in tanning booths, or from x-rays. No matter what type of burn you’ve suffered, learn your rights under California law. Many burn accidents are preventable and trace back to someone’s negligence, such as a distracted driver or careless product manufacturer. If your burn injury was negligence-based, you may have grounds for a lawsuit.

Burn Injury Law in Orange County

To bring a burn injury claim, you typically need proof that another’s negligence caused your accident. If you’re attempting to sue your employer for a chemical burn injury you sustained in the workplace, for example, you need proof that the employer neglected his or her duties in some way. This might be that your employer didn’t properly train you to work with a hazardous substance or provide the right safety equipment. Burn injury cases based on negligence always impose this burden of proof on plaintiffs.

Burn injuries based on product liability, on the other hand, are different. Plaintiffs may be able to sue without proving negligence based on strict liability or breach of warranty rules. In California, you can seek recovery from a manufacturer or distributer for a product under strict liability laws if the product has a design flaw, manufacturing defect, or inadequate safety/use warning. In these cases, you only have to prove that the product had a flaw and that this flaw caused your burn injury.

If you believe that you have grounds for a burn injury case, reach out to Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP, of Orange County at (877) 800-1700. We’ll discuss your case in depth in a no-obligation review. Our Irvine burn injury attorneys can tell you if we think a personal injury case is the right decision. Call or contact us online today to get started We represent clients in Orange County, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and throughout Southern California.