Burn Injury Attorney in Philadelphia

Events That May Give Rise to a Burn Injury Claim

Fires, scalding liquids or steam, chemical exposure, electrical incidents, and workplace accidents can cause serious burns. The central questions are how the event happened and whether a person, business, property owner, manufacturer, or another party failed to meet a legal duty of care.

Premises liability, which concerns a property owner’s responsibility for unsafe conditions, may apply to a burn at an apartment, business, or other property. Inadequate maintenance, an unaddressed hazard, or another dangerous condition may have contributed to the incident.

Defective products may also cause or worsen burns. A claim may examine whether a product’s design, manufacturing, or warnings contributed to the harm. Identifying the relevant legal theory requires a careful review of the product and the event, not an assumption based only on where it occurred.

Potential Compensation After a Burn Injury

Available compensation depends on the evidence, the severity and effects of the burn, and each party’s responsibility. A claim may seek damages for current losses and reasonably supported future needs.

Potential categories of compensation include:

• Medical expenses: Treatment bills and other injury-related care costs
• Lost wages: Income lost during time away from work
• Pain and suffering: Physical pain and the personal impact of the injury
• Future care: Anticipated care needs supported by the circumstances and evidence

Pennsylvania follows comparative negligence, which considers whether the person seeking compensation shares responsibility for the incident. Someone who’s partially at fault may still recover compensation in some circumstances, but the recovery can be reduced by that person’s percentage of fault.

Workplace Burns & Third-Party Claims

A worker burned in a workplace fire or another on-the-job incident may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. Workers’ compensation and a personal injury claim are separate legal pathways with different requirements and potentially different responsible parties.

A third-party claim may be possible when someone other than the employer contributed to a fire or another burn hazard. Depending on the facts, that party could be a property owner, contractor, equipment manufacturer, or another person or business. Determining which claims may be available requires an analysis of the incident and the parties involved.

Pennsylvania Deadlines for Filing a Burn Injury Claim

Most Pennsylvania negligence claims must be filed within two years of the injury. Missing the applicable statute of limitations, the legal deadline for filing a lawsuit, can prevent someone from pursuing the case in court.

Some circumstances affect when the limitations period begins. Pennsylvania’s discovery rule may delay the start until the person knew, or reasonably should have known, about the injury and its connection to another party’s conduct. For an injured minor, the limitations period typically doesn’t begin until the minor’s 18th birthday.

Claims involving a Pennsylvania government entity generally carry an additional written notice requirement within six months of the incident. Because the correct deadline depends on the parties and facts, prompt legal advice can preserve the time available to investigate and file a claim.