If a preventable burn injury has cost you your good health, a dependable salary, and your happy family life, a Montgomery lawyer from our firm wants to help. You can focus on feeling better while we push the liable party to pay financial compensation that would make it easier for you to rebuild.
At the Law Office of Dwayne L. Brown, we take pride in giving our clients the compassionate support and candid advice they deserve during a difficult time. Call our Montgomery catastrophic injury lawyer now to start your case with a free case review.
How Burn Injury Compensation Can Change Your Life
It is not an exaggeration to say that your burns have totally upended all aspects of your life. Your career, your personal life, and your health may never be the same. As a result of all these changes, you may be struggling financially and unsure of your future stability.
It is okay if you need time to mourn your old life and process your feelings about the accident that led to this. While you take care of yourself, our personal injury attorney would be proud to fight for the money you can use to get your family back on its feet.
Financial Losses Connected With the Burns
Burns and the accidents that cause them can be very expensive. Compensation from the liable party can help you cover the following:
- Loss of income, benefits, or your job
- Medical expenses
- Property damage
- Any other bills generated by the accident (e.g., you had to hire someone to take care of your lawn because you could not do that work yourself)
Bodily Injuries Connected With the Burns
As the Cleveland Clinic explains, there are many types and “levels” (or degrees) of burns. Any burn can cause disruptive symptoms on a temporary basis, while the more serious ones can affect your health permanently. You can recover compensation for:
- Physical pain and other symptoms
- Emotional trauma and mental anguish
- Painful or disfiguring scar tissue
- Disabling injuries
- Loss of consortium (i.e., negative changes in your relationship with close relatives)
Wrongful Death Damages After a Fatal Burn Injury
If your loved one lost their life because of their burn injuries, please accept our deepest condolences for your loss. Your family may be eligible to file a wrongful death lawsuit, but the lawsuit would need to be filed by the representative of the estate. Also, Alabama awards punitive damages to families, not compensatory damages. As the name implies, these damages are meant to punish the negligent party and warn others against similar actions. Our wrongful death lawyer can assist your family in these proceedings.
What About Punitive Damages for Burn Injuries?
You may have heard of another type of compensation called punitive damages. This is additional money paid to the victim of an extreme act of negligence, like if the manufacturer of a faulty product displayed a repeated, systemic disregard for consumer safety.
Punitive damages are rare, but we never discount the possibility that a client may qualify for them. Our personal injury lawyer can let you know if you should seek punitive damages after we investigate your case.
Getting Help From Our Burn Injury Legal Team in Montgomery
Our Alabama burn injury lawyer believes that personal injuries deserve personal attention. That is why we:
Treat Burn Injury Survivors Like Family
The Law Office of Dwayne L. Brown takes a limited number of cases so that we have ample time to devote to each and every client. You can expect us to contact you regularly, both to update you on the case and to make sure that you are doing well.
Our team is concerned about more than just your legal situation. We also want to make sure you get the medical care you need and can even recommend doctors to treat you.
Charge No Upfront Fees to Montgomery Clients
We know that money is one of your top concerns right now. To make sure we do not add to your financial burden, we offer free case reviews to all potential clients. This review can be done over the phone.
Once someone hires us, we do not ask them to pay any attorney’s fees up front. Instead, we wait until we win the case to send a bill—and we send no bill at all if we do not win. Our firm and our clients are truly in this together.
Carefully Investigate the Cause of Every Burn Injury
This critical step involves collecting enough evidence to prove your case against whoever caused your accident. We might build your casefile by:
- Visiting the scene of the accident to see it for ourselves
- Collecting documentary evidence, such as records, photos, and video
- Interviewing everyone with knowledge of the accident, including witnesses and the at-fault party
Pursuing the Burn Injury Compensation Your Family Needs
Our 30 years of experience in personal injury law has taught us that no two cases are alike. Our Montgomery burn injury attorney can consider your situation and goals very carefully before deciding whether to:
- Start out by trying to negotiate with the liable party’s insurance company for a fair settlement
- Take your case to court if the insurer will not negotiate in good faith
- Go to trial right away, bypassing the negotiation phase, if we feel that is necessary (e.g. if the insurer is especially reluctant to cooperate)
- Return to the negotiating table if the insurer indicates they are willing to work with us after the trial preparations or the trial itself has begun
Ready to learn more? Call us now to speak to the Law Office of Dwayne L. Brown today.
What to Do After an Alabama Burn Injury
It is crucial for both your health and your legal case to seek out medical care right away following the accident. You might need an ambulance to take you to the ER or, if you were injured at work, emergency first aid from the on-site doctor. Burn injury treatment, per the Mayo Clinic, may include:
- Hospitalization
- Skin grafts and other surgeries
- Pain management
- Physical therapy
Why Is Burn Injury Care So Important?
First and foremost, it prevents you from suffering any more than necessary and can prevent life-threatening complications like infections.
Getting care also produces a medical record of your official diagnosis and treatment plan. You can use this to prove that:
- The negligence-related accident caused your burns
- The medical expenses you are seeking compensation for are justified
- The physical and emotional pain you are seeking compensation for are justified
Prompt Action Protects Your Rights After a Montgomery Accident
Burn injury survivors should look to AL Code § 6-2-38 for the deadline by which they must file a personal injury lawsuit. This law gives you two years from the day you were injured to begin a case. If you let the deadline pass, you lose the right to damages.
This deadline (two years) is the same for wrongful death cases, but the relevant law is codified in AL Code § 6-5-410.
Burn Injury Causes in Montgomery, Alabama
Burn injuries can occur whenever you are exposed to a hot or caustic substance. Some common causes of burns that you can sue for include:
- Open flames: Fires caused by negligent property maintenance or defective tools or appliances can all cause fires and burns.
- Electricity: Frayed wires or faulty equipment may give off sparks that lead to burn injuries.
- Chemicals: Certain industrial cleaners, for instance, are very caustic and can cause serious harm to exposed skin.
- Extreme temperatures: Even without an open flame, very high (or very low) temperatures can burn you.
Where Do Burn Injuries Happen?
Many different places and scenarios can expose you to the hazardous substances listed above. Our Montgomery burn injury lawyer can help you file a burn injury case after a(n):
- Car accident, if the crash resulted in a fire or explosion
- Incident on someone else’s property, such as an electrical fire caused by faulty wiring or exposure to improperly stored chemicals
- A workplace accident, if you are not given adequate protection or training for dealing with hazards commonly found at your job site
Who Is Responsible for Montgomery Burn Injuries?
This is a critical question. You cannot file a suit for damages until you identify who caused your injuries. The target of your lawsuit might be:
- An individual, like a reckless driver who caused a crash or a property owner who failed to look after their land
- An organization, like a corporation that knowingly sold faulty products or an employer that did not provide legally required training to employees
- More than one party, like if an individual and an organization both displayed negligent behavior that contributed to your accident
The Law Office of Dwayne L. Brown can figure out who is liable in your case and fight vigorously to hold them accountable. One look at our case results shows that we are serious about doing right by our clients.
Our Burn Injury Team Is Ready to Tackle Your Montgomery Case
The Montgomery burn injury lawyer at the Law Office of Dwayne L. Brown wants to ensure the law treats you fairly. Let us represent you in your pursuit of justice and fair compensation. Call us today so we can evaluate your case at no cost, risk, or obligation to you.
