A burn injury can leave you with significant medical bills and negatively impact your ability to work. Burns are also highly painful, and visible and disfiguring burn scars can lead to substantial mental distress. Burn victims might naturally wonder whether they must address all these costly losses themselves or if someone else might be responsible.
Your legal rights and options following a burn injury depend on the cause of your injuries. If someone else's negligence led to your injuries, they should be liable for covering your losses. Always have our St. Petersburg burn injury attorneys review your situation and advise you whether you have a valid claim.
To discuss the details of your burn injury and identify whether you have a case, seek a free legal case evaluation as soon as possible. One of the experienced St. Petersburg burn injury lawyers from Nicoletti Accident Injury Lawyers is standing by to help.
Our St. Petersburg personal injury lawyers regularly get successful results for clients involving catastrophic injuries, and we know how to seek the high dollar amounts that often result from such severe injuries.
For example, we have obtained:
- $875,000 for a car accident victim with catastrophic injuries
- $600,000 for a moped rider with catastrophic injuries
- $500,000 for catastrophic injuries from a traffic crash
- $400,000 for catastrophic injuries from a car crash, even though liability was questionable
If you have life-altering burn injuries, we can value your case and seek full compensation for your losses, no matter how costly they might be.
Schedule A Free ConsultationBurn Injury Risks in St. Petersburg
When you think of St. Petersburg, you likely do not immediately think about burn injury risks. However, like any other city in Florida or the United States, St. Petersburg presents risks of many types of injuries, including burns.
Car accidents are a common cause of severe burns, and crashes happen everywhere across St. Petersburg. A high-speed truck collision might happen on I-275, causing vehicles to erupt in flames or explode, leading to life-changing burn injuries.
Some people cannot escape a burning vehicle in time, and their loved ones might file a wrongful death claim for fatal burns. Those who survive might have a life-long journey ahead of them dealing with the fallout of their burns.
You might also suffer burns due to dangerous conditions on commercial property. When a retail location like Tyrone Shopping Center or Sundial St. Pete ineffectively maintains its pipes, a shopper might touch an overly-hot pipe and suffer burns. You might eat at a restaurant in the Grand Central District when a waiter spills a scalding hot pot of tea or drops a sizzling plate of fajitas on you.
Many burn injuries are wholly unexpected and unpredictable, and your life can change instantly. Discuss who might be responsible for your burn injuries with our legal team.
Workplace Burn Injuries and Injury Claims
Workplace accidents are common sources of burn injuries. While your first source of compensation following a work injury is workers’ compensation, these benefits rarely begin to cover the extensive costs of a severe burn injury. Always speak with an burn injury lawyer who can evaluate whether you have a third-party injury claim.
Burns might happen due to defective equipment that gets overly hot, catches fire, releases hot steam, or even explodes while you are on the job. Your safety equipment might also be faulty, allowing you to suffer injuries you should have protection from. If another party or company not affiliated with your employer caused your work-related burn injury, our St. Petersburg burn injury lawyers can seek full compensation for your losses, which is more than workers’ comp can provide.
Common Causes of Burn Injuries
Each year in the United States, over one million burn injuries require medical attention, with at least 50,000 burn injuries each year that require hospitalization. When the cause of your injury involves someone else, you have the legal right to compensation from the at-fault party. Your local burn injury attorney from Nicoletti Accident Injury Lawyers can discuss this with you during your risk-free consultation.
Many people associate burns with fire or flames. While this is a common cause of burns, many other conditions can cause severe burns.
Common causes of burn injuries include:
- Contact with hot surfaces
- Hot liquids
- Toxic chemicals
- Electricity
- Nuclear radiation
- Building fires
- Flammable liquids and gasses
- Steam
These might result in serious burns that can cause severe tissue damage and the need for long-term medical treatment. Many people need treatment in a burn center that involves multiple skin grafts and other painful procedures.
No matter how your burn injury happens, allow our attorneys to evaluate whether we can hold someone else liable for your losses.
Damages in Burn Injury Claims
Medical treatment for burn injuries is often extensive, and you might have bills from:
- Initial emergency transportation and trauma care
- Hospitalization or intensive care
- Stays in a burn unit or burn center
- Infection prevention treatment
- Skin grafts and other surgical procedures
- Cosmetic surgery for scarring and disfigurement
- Physical or occupational therapy
Many victims of severe burns need months or years of treatment, and the liable party should cover your pile of medical bills. If you need treatment following your injury claim, your settlement should cover the estimated costs of your future care.
Burn injuries can be costly due to medical treatment, but this is far from the only type of loss a burn victim can experience. Time in the hospital or burn center will keep you from working, and you will lose income. Some burns result in physical impairments that prevent you from performing your previous job. If you need to accept a lower-paying job or rely on disability benefits moving forward, your losses should include your future lost earnings.
In addition to financial losses, burns can also result in non-economic losses.
These intangible, difficult-to-value damages include:
- Physical pain and suffering
- Emotional trauma
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Permanent disfigurement
- Permanent impairments
Your burn injury lawyer will have methods of calculating these non-economic losses to ensure you seek all that you deserve for your injuries.
For future or intangible losses, your attorney might use experts in their network. Medical experts can assess what treatment you likely need in the future and how much the treatment will cost. A medical expert can also attest to the pain and suffering burn injuries can cause.
If you cannot work, an occupational expert can give their opinion on your future working abilities considering your injuries. Economic experts can help calculate your future lost earnings with inflation and other complex considerations.
When you demand a certain amount from an insurance company, the insurer will not simply take your word. Your burn injury attorney can present evidence to prove your past and future losses and support the stated value of your claim.
When Should You Call a St. Petersburg Burn Injury Lawyer?
Following an accident and serious burns, your immediate focus will be on your medical care and physical health. Burn injury treatment can be invasive and painful, and calling a lawyer might not be high on your priority list.
However, never wait long to consult with a burn injury attorney following your accident. Evidence can fade or disappear with time, making it more difficult to prove liability for your injuries. This is especially true with burns from truck accidents or commercial property accidents, as companies might throw out evidence of liability. The sooner you contact a lawyer, the sooner they can work to preserve evidence for your claim.
Further, in Florida, you have limited time to file a personal injury lawsuit if one is necessary in your case. The statute of limitations for burn injury cases is four years, which might seem like a long time. However, many steps must happen before you get to the lawsuit stage. If you need to file a claim against a government agency, the time to take action is significantly shorter.
In short, never wait to call a lawyer after a burn injury. Doing so will decrease your stress, as you can focus on your treatment, knowing someone is protecting your rights. If you cannot consult with a lawyer yourself due to your injuries, a family member might help start the process.
St. Petersburg Burn Injury FAQs
What kind of lawyer should I reach out to for my burn injury?
When you suffer burn injuries in an accident, you will be looking for a lawyer who works on personal injury cases. Hiring a lawyer can intimidate people, but you can find options through a targeted online search to start. Review the experience of certain injury lawyers and schedule a free consultation with one or more law firms in St. Petersburg that stand out to you.
In the St. Pete area, many injury victims turn to Nicoletti Accident Injury Lawyers for help. We have a reputation for success and dedication to our clients, and we welcome the chance to give you more information about our firm.
How will I seek damages for my burn injury?
No one will voluntarily issue you a check to cover your losses. Instead, you need to take certain steps to seek compensation, and you should have a burn injury attorney handle this process for you.
The process begins with insurance claims against the negligent party or parties in your case. If insurance settlement negotiations are unsuccessful, your case can move to civil court when your attorney files a personal injury lawsuit. Seeking compensation is complicated and nothing you should handle alone while dealing with serious injuries.
Should I negotiate with the insurance company on my own first?
Many people try to see if they can negotiate with insurance companies alone before they call a lawyer. It is common for you to receive a quick settlement offer from the insurance company, and this offer is usually much less than you deserve. They hope you will accept the low settlement offer without speaking to an attorney, leaving you with uncovered losses.
If you do negotiate following the initial offer, they are banking on you underestimating your losses and eventually accepting an inadequate amount. Never negotiate with the insurance company without a lawyer to even the playing field.
How can a lawyer help me with my burn injury?
Your St. Petersburg burn injury lawyer from Nicoletti Accident Injury Lawyers steps into your shoes and handles all negotiations and communications with the insurance company. They know how to completely and accurately measure your injury-related damages so you recover in full what you deserve and aren't left covering bills. Your lawyer gathers and presents proof of liability and losses in your claim and handles every aspect of the process for you.
How much does a burn injury lawyer cost?
While you might worry that you cannot afford a burn injury lawyer, there is no justification for this concern. Reputable burn injury lawyers will take cases on a contingency basis, which means you pay nothing upfront and nothing unless you successfully receive compensation. You need no money out of pocket to pay your lawyer fees, allowing anyone to afford injury representation.
Chat with a St. Petersburg burn injury lawyer from Nicoletti Accident Injury Lawyers for a risk-free discussion about your case and how our fee structure works.
Connect with Your St. Petersburg Burn Injury Lawyer Today
If you suffered a burn injury and someone was at fault, you might seek compensation for all of your losses. Our experienced St. Petersburg burn injury lawyers from Nicoletti Accident Injury Lawyers are ready to consult on your case to determine your rights. Please contact us today at (727) 797-2020 to learn more about our firm and our services to burn injury victims.