Phoenix, AZ Burn Injury Lawyer | Third Degree Burns

Every year, more than 2.5 million catastrophic burn injuries are reported nationwide. About 4,500 of these burns end in death, according to the American Burn Association. Burn injuries are a close second in the leading causes of accidental deaths in the nation, following auto accidents. Burn injuries can require extensive treatment and can leave victims and their families financially unstable.

If you or a loved one has suffered burn injuries caused by the negligence or recklessness of another person or entity, it is important to contact an experienced Phoenix, AZ burn injury lawyer as you may be entitled to receive compensation for your losses.

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Common Burn Injuries

Burn injuries range in severity; from mild to severe to sometimes fatal. Common burn injuries include chemical burns, thermal burns, electrical burns, radiation burns and inhalation injuries.

Chemical Burns: These injuries are a result of contact with hazardous or caustic chemicals.
Thermal Burns: These types of injuries occur when the body is exposed to extreme heat, including fire, boiling water, steam and hot metal.
Electrical Burns: Common on construction sites, these types of injures happen when high voltage passes through the body and suddenly exists, leaving a severe exit wound.
Radiation Burns: These injuries are caused by exposure to ultraviolet light, like from a tanning bed, or by exposure to nuclear radiation, such as the radiation emitted during an x-ray.
Inhalation Injuries: Sometimes, this type of injury can cause more damage than a physical burn. These types of injuries are caused by breathing in toxic fumes in a poorly ventilated area and severe cases usually require hospitalization.

A Phoenix, AZ burn injury attorney could review the details of a situation to determine its cause and who should be held liable.

Degrees of Burns

Burn injuries can be classified as a first, second, third or fourth degree burn, with first degree burns being the least severe and fourth degree burns being very severe and debilitating.

First Degree: Characterized by red skin that is sensitive to the touch and slight tissue damage that fails to penetrate the skins surface. Sunburn is an example of a first degree burn.
Second Degree: Characterized by red skin, pain, swelling and blisters. In addition to irritated skin, hair follicles and sweat glands are usually affected. If not treated correctly, a second degree burn can progress to a third degree burn.
Third Degree: Characterized by charred or translucent skin. Areas of the body inflicted with third degree burns are usually numb, but there may be pain associated with second degree burns present in the same area. Third degree burns generally take longer to heal as tissue is destroyed. These types of burns usually cause significant scarring.
Fourth Degree: Characterized by an intensive burn injury that affects muscles, tendons, ligaments and sometimes bone. These types of burns are usually life-threatening and often lead to amputation.

The severity of a burn injury can impact the amount of damages you can pursue, so it is important to work with an experienced Phoenix, AZ attorney to understand your options.

Causes of Accidental Fires and Explosions

The most common forms of accidental fires, burns and explosions include house fires, industrial accidents, automobile fires, contact with hazardous chemicals and electrocution. Even if you were injured in a house fire, a third party may still be liable for your injuries. It is important to have a knowledgeable Phoenix, AZ burn injury attorney help you pinpoint who or what is to blame for the fire or explosion in order to determine who should be held accountable for your injuries.

Civil Liability Based on Negligence

Most of the time, holding someone else civilly liable for a burn injury requires proving that they were “negligent” in some way. Under Arizona state law, legally actionable negligence occurs when all the following conditions are met:

One person owes a duty of care to another person which requires them to act responsibly in specific ways in order to ensure that other person does not suffer avoidable harm
The first person violates their duty through a specific reckless, careless, and/or unlawful act
As a direct result of that breach of duty, an accident occurs which likely would not have otherwise happened
As a direct result of that accident, the person to whom the duty of care was owed suffered a physical injury requiring some form of professional medical care—in this scenario, a high-degree burn

Importantly, what constitutes a “duty of care” in this context can be a deceptively subjective matter, as can what constitutes a “breach” of that duty. For example, landowners broadly have a duty to warn lawful visitors on their land about known hazards, but they may not always be liable for burns caused by hazards which they—the landowner—had no direct knowledge of.

What Could Make Someone “Strictly Liable” for a Burn Injury?

Under certain circumstances, a person—or, more often in practice, a company or corporation—may hold “strict liability” for a burn injury. This means they automatically are at fault for injury-related losses regardless of whether they did anything specifically irresponsible to cause them, provided that certain conditions are met.

For instance, if you were burned by a malfunctioning consumer product, you may be able to hold the manufacturer strictly liable for your injuries if your burn stemmed directly from a dangerous defect in the product’s design, a manufacturing error, or because you were not given sufficient instructions for safe use of the product. You must also be able to prove that the product’s condition did not meaningfully change after it left its manufacturer’s direct control and that you were using it appropriately when you were burned, among other things.

Recovering Fairly for Short-Term and Long-Term Losses

On that note, it can be essential when filing suit over a burn injury to account not only for damages you have already experienced by the time you file suit, but also for damages you can reasonably expect to experience in the months, years, and even decades to come due to your injury. For example, in addition to the costs of emergency medical treatment you received immediately after sustaining a high-degree burn, you should also consider whether you will likely need further rehabilitative and/or maintenance care in the future and, if so, incorporate those costs into your lawsuit or settlement demand.

Other damages you may need to factor into a claim of this nature include lost work earnings and/or working capacity, disability-related costs for things like wheelchairs and home modifications, physical pain and suffering, psychological distress, and decline in overall enjoyment/quality of life. However, you should take action sooner rather than later after being harmed in this way, since Arizona state law gives most people a maximum of two years to sue after initially being injured, regardless of how long your injury will continue to negatively impact your life.

Work With a Phoenix, AZ Burn Injury Attorney

The Phoenix, AZ burn injury lawyers of the Phillips Law Group have the experience and resources necessary to ensure that burn victims receive the compensation they may deserve for their losses. Burn injuries can leave victims in a financial crisis, with the cost of extensive medical treatments, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages related to the accident. Families and dependents of burn victims who passed away in an accident may be eligible for legal recourse to pursue wrongful death damages.

For more information on burn injury lawsuits or to schedule a no obligation consultation with one of our burn injury attorneys, please reach out today.