Baton Rouge Burn Injury Lawyer

Burn Injury Attorney in Baton Rouge, LA

The experienced Baton Rouge burn injury lawyers at Dué Guidry Andrews Courrege have represented clients with severe burn injuries, including those caused by fireworks, fuel fed fires, natural gas explosions, workplace injuries, industrial plant fires and explosions, boiling liquids, electrical injuries from faulty electric wiring, electrical injuries from commercial and residential power lines, and from defective appliances, including hot-water heaters, a residential microwave, and a commercial deep-fat fryer.

Understanding Burn Injuries in Baton Rouge

Severe burn injuries occur for many different reasons, the most common of which are chemicals, electricity, fire, fireworks, friction, heat, and light. Burn injuries are generally identified by class. First-degree burns generally involve the epidermis or outer layer of skin, are like most sunburns, and involve limited redness and minor pain. Second-degree burns are usually caused by boiling water, involve the superficial dermis, blistering of the skin, and pain.

Third-degree burns involve extreme damage to the epidermis and the deep dermis, and result in scarring and may require skin grafting. Fourth-degree burns involve severe damage to the hypodermis and damage to the muscle, tendon, and ligament tissue. When not fatal, fourth-degree burns require skin grafting.

What to Do After a Burn Injury in Baton Rouge

Burn injuries are traumatic events that cause excruciating pain and discomfort. If you have suffered a serious burn injury in Baton Rouge or elsewhere in Louisiana, it is important to know what steps to take following the accident to protect both your physical and legal rights.

Get Medical Care

Burns can often be deceptive in appearance. What may seem like only a minor burn can quickly develop into something much worse, especially if your burn injury extends deeper into your skin. Seek medical treatment as soon as possible from an emergency room or from burn injury professionals like those at Baton Rouge General Burn Center. The sooner you treat your burn injury, the better chance you have of minimizing infection and other complications.

Preserve Evidence

If you were burned by a defective product, preserve the product in its current state. Avoid cleaning the affected area or making any adjustments yourself. In addition, hold onto the clothing you were wearing during the accident, as your clothes may provide evidence of burns or harmful residue. Take pictures of the incident site, any machinery involved, and your injuries. Photographs can be used as evidence in your claim should you decide to pursue one.

Be Careful What You Say

If you are burned due to someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to monetary compensation through a burn injury claim. However, once you file an injury claim, an insurance company will likely reach out to you in an attempt to recover payment.

Insurance company adjusters often try to ask accident victims for recorded statements right after an accident occurs. Ideally, you’ll postpone any recorded statements until you’ve had time to evaluate the circumstances thoroughly.

You should also refrain from discussing the details of your accident with anyone but your attorney. The at-fault party’s insurance company may try to contact you directly to discuss your claim. Remember, you are under no obligation to speak with them. Let your attorney speak on your behalf.

Hire a Burn Injury Lawyer

When you have been burned due to someone else’s negligence, you should hire a burn injury lawyer immediately. Not only will an attorney be able to walk you through your legal rights, but they can also help determine who may be at fault for your injuries.

Understanding Louisiana’s Burn Injury Laws

Similar to the rest of the United States, Louisiana law considers burn injuries to be a type of personal injury. If you have been burned due to someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to monetary compensation from the at-fault party. Burn injuries are unique in that multiple parties can be responsible for a burn accident.

Louisiana also has a statute of limitations on personal injury claims. This means that you only have a limited amount of time to file a claim against the party at fault. If the statute of limitations expires, you will no longer be eligible for recovery, regardless of the severity of your burn injuries.

Like many other states, Louisiana law allows victims of burn injuries to recover damages. Damages can include medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering. In catastrophic burn injury cases, damages may even include long-term disfigurement. In 2021, the CDC recorded 252,000 injuries from hot items or substances and 398,000 injuries from fires or burns.

Establishing Liability in Burn Injury Cases

To achieve success with a burn injury claim, the injured party must prove that someone else was legally at fault for their injuries. Proving negligence involves a few different factors.

• Duty of care. The party at fault must have owed you a duty of care. A duty of care is a legal obligation to act in a reasonably safe manner. Some common duties of care include a property owner’s responsibility to keep their property safe and a manufacturer’s responsibility to make safe products.
• Breach of duty. After establishing that the other party owed you a duty of care, you must prove that they breached that duty. A breach of duty occurs when someone fails to live up to their duty of care. In burn injury cases, this can include defective wiring, failure to use protective gear when handling flammable liquids, or failure to follow proper safety protocols.
• Causation. The at-fault party’s breach of duty must have caused your burn injury. In some cases, it may be obvious that someone’s breach of duty caused your burn injury. Say, for example, that you were burned when a fire exploded in your workplace. You will then need a professional to analyze how the explosion occurred.
• Damages. You must prove that you sustained injuries as a result of someone else’s breach of duty. Damages in a burn injury include medical bills, rehabilitation costs, and loss of income due to time away from work.

Workers’ Compensation and Third-Party Claims

Burn injuries can occur in work settings where multiple parties may be responsible for the accident. When this happens, an injured worker can file both a workers’ compensation claim and a third-party liability claim.

Workers’ compensation is a form of insurance that provides payment to workers who are injured on the job. While workers’ compensation can provide financial relief to injured workers, it may not cover all of the damages associated with serious burn injuries.

In some cases, an injured worker may be able to file a third-party liability claim. A third-party liability claim can be filed when someone other than the employer causes the worker’s injury. For example, if a piece of equipment was defective or if a subcontractor was negligent in some way and caused the injury, the worker will most likely be able to file a third-party liability claim.

Like all personal injury claims in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, burn injury claims are heard by the 19th Judicial District Court. The court system in Baton Rouge can be confusing, so it can help to understand how a case will proceed through the court.

About Dué Guidry Andrews Courrege

The experienced Louisiana fire accident lawyers and staff at Dué Guidry Andrews Courrege have the compassion and understanding of burn injuries necessary to help you or your family through the devastating, debilitating, and disfiguring consequences of burn injuries and the scars, both emotional and physical, that these catastrophic injuries leave behind.

Our Louisiana burn injury trial lawyers have collected millions of dollars for burn victims, with multiple clients receiving in excess of $11,000,000 each. The firm represented the lead plaintiff in an industrial accident case that resulted in severe burn injuries to two employees and the death of one other employee, and which resulted in a $158,000,000 combined jury verdict in Plaquemine, Louisiana.

At the time, this jury verdict was believed to have been the largest personal injury jury verdict in Louisiana history. And, in 2010, the firm obtained a $23,000,000 jury verdict in St. Landry Parish against a natural gas supplier for burn injuries sustained as a result of a house explosion that occurred after an unauthorized person turned on the gas at the house meter after the gas had been negligently shut off by the gas company without the use of a federally compliant locking device.

Contact Dué Guidry Andrews Courrege

If you or a loved one sustained serious burn injuries during an accident, contact the experienced Baton Rouge, Louisiana burn injury lawyers at Dué Guidry Andrews Courrege to schedule a FREE CONSULTATION.