Houston Burn Injury Lawyers

Burn Injury Attorneys Address Your Concerns

Our burn injury attorneys know that along with the pain and physical problems, a severe burn brings emotional issues and major fears and worries. If the burn is on your face or other visible area, you may be depressed and embarrassed by the disfigurement, and if damage is severe, you may be unable to work. Burn injuries can also affect your marriage, your social life, and your relationships with the other members of your family. You may be facing long, painful periods of rehabilitation and worry about how much potential you have for recovery and whether you will be able to ever work again. The full extent of your injuries may not be known for months or years.

Fears about your financial situation are common, as burn injury treatment may involve expensive hospitalization, doctors, therapy, plastic surgeries, and medication bills. If you cannot work, you worry about how the financial needs of your family will be met.

When you contact the Houston burn injury lawyers at Terry Bryant, we can address and alleviate these concerns. You no longer have to deal with legal issues and negotiations with insurance companies. You can let us do the work to get you and your family the best settlement possible through your burn injury lawsuit.

Be mindful that the statute of limitations in Texas typically allows two years after the date of injury to bring a claim. If you wait for that date to expire, you are giving up your right to file a claim forever for that injury. ***Always speak directly to an attorney for the statute of limitations and any other deadlines that apply to your specific claim(s).***

Call us now at (713) 973-8888 to discuss your concerns and get your case started.

Damages Our Burn Injuries Lawyers Can Win for You

There is a wide range of damage amounts victims of burn injuries can be awarded – from 4-figures, to 7-figures – and even higher. The award our burn injury attorneys can win for you depends on factors that include the severity of the burns, the insurance available, and the type and circumstances of the accident. Damages that you may collect for a successful burn injury lawsuit include:

• Current and future medical expenses (e.g. ER bills, other hospitalization, debridement, skin grafting, plastic surgery)
• Past and future lost wages
• Past and future pain and suffering
• Physical therapy and rehabilitation
• Disfigurement and emotional suffering
• Loss of life’s pleasures.

In cases where there was gross or willful negligence, you may also be awarded punitive damages, which are meant to punish a defendant that acted in a particularly reckless and reprehensible manner.
If your burns are particularly disabling or disfiguring, such as causing severe scarring to the face, the settlement often will increase accordingly, but may be limited by the amount of insurance and assets the defendant has available.

If the burn injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, such as a car crash, or through a workplace accident, you may be able to pursue compensation through a negligence or workers’ compensation claim, or, if a death resulted, through a wrongful death claim.

Types of Claims Handled by Our Burn Injury Lawyers

Burn Injuries Caused by Negligence

If your burn injury was caused by someone else’s negligence or fault, your attorney would have to prove the following:

• The defendant owed you a duty to take reasonable care not to cause you harm.
• The defendant breached this duty and failed to exercise this care.
• The breach of duty caused your injuries.

Workers’ Compensation Claims

If you were severely burned in a work accident that occurred while you were on the job, you may be able to recover damages through a workers’ compensation claim instead of a negligence lawsuit, unless there was negligence by your employer that caused the accident.

Wrongful Death Related to a Burn Injury

If the burn injury resulted in the death of a close family member, survivors may file a wrongful death claim. This is similar to a negligence lawsuit, but the settlement goes to the survivors or estate of the deceased to compensate for the losses suffered as a result of the death.

Factors for Burn Injury Lawyers to Focus On

Perhaps the most important factor is what caused the accident. If, for example, a person is hurt in a vehicle accident, a driver who was in violation of traffic laws at the time will be considered negligent. Running a red light, driving while intoxicated, making illegal turns, and speeding are common causes of vehicle accidents, and they can all leave a victim exposed to fire. At work, if an accident occurs due to the negligence of a co-worker or employer, the victim may be entitled to enough compensation to cover their medical costs. If, however, the accident was caused by pure chance and no one is clearly at fault, a hurt worker will usually only be entitled to workers’ compensation, providing the employer opted into the insurance coverage.

The severity of the accident will also have a major impact on the kind of settlement a victim may be able to secure. Fire is capable of damaging tissue all the way to the bone, leaving the victim with intense, chronic pain, loss of limb mobility, numbness, secondary infections, and disfiguring scars. Long-term physical therapy and several cosmetic surgeries may be required to restore some quality of life to the victim, and this is expensive. The worse the accident, the more the victim may be able to recover, and if there are scars present in a visible place, such as the face, the settlement will need to be higher to offset the emotional and psychological damages.

Contact a Burn Injury Lawyer in Houston, TX

The Terry Bryant Law Firm has more than 35 years of experience fighting for the rights of injured burn victims. Let our experience and knowledge of the law work to help get you the compensation you’re owed for your injuries. A burn injury lawyer works to build a strong claim on your behalf, so you can focus on recovering. Contact Terry Bryant today and get the legal help you deserve. Call (713) 973-8888 or toll-free 1 (800) 444-5000, or fill out our online contact form, for your free consultation today.

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Getting Help from Experienced Burn Injury Attorneys in Houston

Serious burn victims who survive their wounds invariably experience physical and psychological scars. They (and, by association, their families) are often saddled with devastating medical bills and lost wages, and the victims themselves deal daily with excruciating pain and suffering. When some negligent party or entity causes the burn injury — such as an apartment or rental house landlord failing to follow fire safety law, an employer not following workplace safety regulations, or a careless driver causing a catastrophic accident — victims are often able to seek financial compensation for their medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, disfigurement, and other legal damages.

Get the help you deserve. Contact one of our experienced burn injury attorneys in Houston, TX, today for a free consultation.

Common Causes of Burn Injuries

Below are the most common causes of severe, negligence-based burn injuries.

Structure fires – According to the NFPA, one residential structure fire was reported every 90 seconds in 2016. Statistics point the finger at several reasons for apartment and residential fires. Two of the most prominent are faulty cooking and electrical equipment or wiring and open-faced portable heaters.

Smoke alarms cut in half your chances of being seriously injured or dying in a fire, according to the NFPA. Houston and its surrounding communities have stringent smoke alarm requirements in all rental homes and apartments. If landlords do not obey the regulations and a fire occurs, they may be held liable for legal damages even if they had no hand in causing the fire themselves.

Car Accidents – With gasoline, other flammable fluids, and the high concentration of plastics and foam rubber in all vehicles, burn injuries in a car accident are often catastrophic. Fires and explosions can turn a serious car accident into a fatal one in the blink of an eye. If the accident was caused by a negligent, intoxicated, reckless, or distracted driver, victims can recover legal damages.

Chemical burns – Caustic chemical compounds such as industrial acids or other corrosive liquids can cause severe burns when they come into contact with the skin. Highly toxic chemicals can burn away soft tissue in seconds. With Houston having the largest concentration of petrochemical refineries in the U.S., hazardous chemical exposure is very common. And disastrous chemical fires can irrevocably sear lungs in workers all too quickly. Companies which do not safely manage their chemical plants, leading to an explosive chemical fire or widespread exposure event, can be sued for damages by injured workers and residents who live in proximity to the disaster.

Electrical burns – An electric shock or uncontrolled short circuit can cause electrical burns, resulting in extreme internal damage such as cardiac arrest or damage to other vital organs which may not be apparent at the time of the injury. Though many electrical burns are obvious at the point of contact, that is not always the case.

Scalding – Hot liquids can cause scalding burns when they come in contact with the skin. Scalding is frequently the cause of burns experienced by children younger than five, but they can also occur in restaurant kitchens or near steam release valves.

Contact a Houston, TX, Burn Injury Lawyer

The Terry Bryant Law Firm has more than 35 years of experience fighting for the rights of injured burn victims. Let our experience and knowledge of the law work to help get you the compensation you’re owed for your injuries.

Contact Terry Bryant today and get the legal help you deserve. Call (713) 973-8888, or fill out our online contact form, for your free consultation.

Client Testimonial

”Gregg and everyone at the Terry Bryant firm were great. Very helpful, always answered my questions. It was a long process, and being during COVID made it even longer but we made it through with a very successful outcome.” – Jodi Cook (Google Review)