If you suffered a burn injury, you could likely file a lawsuit to receive compensation for your injuries. If you pursue this path, you’ll want to speak with a skilled burn injury attorney for help. Before contemplating a suit, however, it’s critical to get medical treatment for your injury.
Treating a Burn Injury
If you experienced a burn, you must seek medical treatment as soon as practicably possible. This is true even if you believe you didn’t suffer a major injury. Burns can lead to serious medical complications even in cases with minor side effects.
If you suffered a relatively minor burn, it’s important to take a few immediate steps to reduce your injuries. Some of these include:
- Cool the burn under cool (not cold) running water or by applying a cool, wet compress until the pain eases
- Remove rings or other tight items
- Avoid breaking blisters as fluid-filled blisters protect against infection
- Apply an anti-biotic ointment if a blister breaks
- Bandage the burn
- Take a pain reliever if necessary
- Seek medical help from an emergency department, your primary care physician, or an urgent care clinic
Filing a Lawsuit
If you’ve suffered a burn injury, there’s a good chance you can file a lawsuit against the party that was responsible for your burn. To succeed in a lawsuit, you’ll have to prove that a person was negligent. Negligence means that another party caused your injury because they acted unreasonably, or, failed to act as a reasonable person would under the circumstances.
Plaintiffs that file a lawsuit typically have to prove four elements to help show that a party was negligent. These are:
- The party owed you a duty of care
- The party breached that duty
- The breach caused you harm in some way
- You suffered some demonstrable harm because of the other party’s breach
Compensation in a Negligence Lawsuit
If you successfully prove that a party was negligent in your burn case, you’re entitled to receive compensation for your injuries. In particular, you can receive payment for:
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Future lost earnings
- Property damage
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Pain and suffering
Be Aware of the Statute of Limitations
Please keep in mind that Washington imposes a three-year statute of limitations in personal injury cases. This means that you have to file your burn injury case within three years from the date of your burn. If you fail to file a suit within this time, you’ll likely lose your opportunity to file a case.
Contact Otorowski Morrow & Golden, PLLC
Please know that our firm is here to help if you’ve suffered a burn or burn related injury. We can help show that another party was negligent, and we’ll better inform you of the applicable statute of limitations that governs your case. Please know that Otorowski Morrow & Golden, PLLC provides free consultations to all our potential clients. Further, the attorneys at our law firm have over 120 years of combined experience representing injured parties and helping them file lawsuits to get the compensation they deserve. Do yourself a favor and contact them now for the quality legal assistance you deserve.