New York Personal Injury Lawyers / Boston Burn Injury Lawyer

Boston Burn Injury Attorney

Boston is a beautiful city with a rich history and a unique cultural atmosphere. Citizens of Boston love exploring the outdoors, visiting cultural sites, and enjoying the various events celebrating the city’s history.

Unfortunately, burn injuries are quite common in Boston with its many businesses and attractions. And burn accidents can happen everywhere, for all kinds of reasons. In Boston, the most common reasons for fire incidents that might cause burns are structure or outdoor fires, though property and vehicle fires are also quite common.

You might not expect to suffer a burn injury, but these types of injuries are often unexpected and hard to avoid. Thankfully, you are not alone. Jacoby & Meyers, LLP started working in Boston to help those victimized by many kinds of accidents, like burn injuries, recover the compensation they need to deal with their injuries and move on with their lives as best they can.

Our firm goes above and beyond to help its clients, vigorously pursuing compensation for the medical care they need, and for their pain and suffering and all the other impacts their injuries have had on their lives.

Call the Jacoby & Meyers, LLP team today at (877) 472-3061, or contact us online to talk about your burn injury case and find out how we can help you.

Boston Burn Injuries

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that over 410,000 burns occurred in the United States in recent years, resulting in 40,000 hospitalizations. You may have suffered burns in many ways—some of the most common causes of serious burn injuries include unsafe conditions in the kitchen or equipment malfunctions in the workplace. The Massachusetts Division of Fire Safety reports several causes of residential fires, including smoking, electrical issues, arson, cooking, and heating.

Children are burned more commonly than adults, usually because they don’t know what will burn them. The average cost for caring for burns on children in the United States is over $200 million a year.

Burns often occur in the kitchen, but that isn’t the only place. Burn accidents are also quite common in the workplace due to fires, chemical burns, or electrical burns. Construction sites, for example, are a common platform for burns of all kinds. Many people suffer from burns when working in unsafe conditions.

In Boston, burns are not uncommon among residents who work in construction or other manual labor jobs. Boston’s children are certainly prone to end up in situations where they suffer preventable burns. If you or a loved one has suffered a burn injury due to an unsafe work environment, product malfunction, or any other dangerous condition created by someone else’s wrongdoing, don’t hesitate to reach out to Jacoby & Meyers, LLP for guidance.

“I had an amazing experience with Jacoby & Meyers, LLP. I would highly recommend them for anyone needing a law firm.” -Paul T.
★★★★★

The Kinds of Burn Injuries We Deal With

All burns are preventable. If the carelessness or neglect of an employer, manufacturer, or other party burned you, you can seek compensation.

As lawyers, we deal with burns caused by someone else’s negligent, reckless, or intentional wrongdoing. If your Boston burn injury is someone else’s fault, they should compensate you for all you’ve suffered, we can help with that.

Here are the common burn injuries that we deal with in Boston:

• Thermal Burns. Heat causes thermal burns—not necessarily fire, but a very hot environment like a boiler room with increasingly hot and unsafe temperatures.
• Cold Burns. Cold burns are caused by the cold. They often occur when you work in an environment with very cold temperatures, such as a laboratory. Someone dealing with chemicals that need to remain cold at all times may suffer from a cold burn.
• Chemical Burns. Chemical burns occur when your skin touches chemicals. Some cleaning chemicals, for example, are very acidic and can burn skin. You might also suffer a chemical burn after long exposure to a chemically infused atmosphere, such as in a factory.
• Electrical Burns. Electrical burns are quite common, especially at construction sites. They usually occur when your skin touches open electrical wiring. Often, electrical burns also affect the inside of your body.
• Radiation Burns. Radiation burns don’t often happen in the workplace, but they can occur with certain medical treatments that use radiation, such as X-rays. If a doctor or other provider uses equipment improperly, they and the facility they work for can be held responsible for any radiation burn you may suffer.
• Friction Burns. Friction burns occur when your skin rubs against some surface with a high friction level. These burns are very common in car accidents when your body is thrown or dragged across asphalt or another rough surface.

Any one of these burns is likely to cause severe damage. Many of these burns may remove your outer layers of skin, exposing your inner muscles and tissues. If this happens, you may pick up secondary harms, such as infections or other illnesses.

Main Types of Burns

After any of the incidences above, you will typically come away with one of three types of burns: first-degree burns, second-degree burns, or third-degree burns.

Each type of burn is extremely painful, but some are more damaging than others.

• A first-degreeburn only affects your epidermis, the outer layer of your skin. It usually causes serious pain and redness on the skin, but will not often result in any serious consequences.
• A second-degreeburn affects the epidermis and your second layer of skin, the dermis. This burn usually causes red and white discoloration on your skin, swelling, and blisters. It is more common to get infections with second-degree burns, and these types of burns often leave scarring.
• A third-degree burn reaches through your epidermis and dermis to the fat underneath. Your burns may be white, black, or brown, and often leave your skin looking leathery. Third-degree burns often kill nerves, leaving you feeling numbness rather than pain. They are also more prone to infection and other serious consequences.

There are many consequences of severe burns. You may experience difficulty breathing if your lungs were burned or you inhaled smoke from a fire. You may get infected or start losing significant amounts of fluids, including blood. You may also deal with joint problems when scar tissues get in the way of your body’s natural movements.

What You Need to Do if You Suffered a Boston Burn Injury

Your first instinct after a Boston burn injury is probably to seek medical attention. You’re right—that’s exactly what you should do! Talk to a doctor as soon as possible to ensure that you receive proper care and can immediately get started on the road to healing and recovery.

Once they’ve received the essential medical treatment they need, many burn victims wonder what next. If you’re like most severe burn victims, you probably need financial assistance to pay the medical bills piling up around your treatments. That’s where burn injury lawyers come in.

After you start recovering from your burn injury, call a burn injury lawyer for a free consultation. If your burn injury was not your fault, and you have good evidence to support your claim, you can recover compensation from another party. Burn injuries are usually the result of someone else’s careless actions. The law allows burn victims to recover compensation from those responsible for their injuries.

For example, if a defective product exploded and burned you, you can file a claim against the manufacturer or distributor of the malfunctioning product. If you suffered burn injuries because your landlord failed to maintain a stove or furnace properly, leading to a fire, you can file a claim against your landlord.

According to state law, employers and other professionals must provide reasonable care to their employees and others entering their business. If they fail to provide reasonable care, they can be held responsible for their neglect and any injuries that neglect caused.

How To Prove Negligence In A Boston Burn Injury Claim

Four main components prove that someone else’s negligence caused a burn injury.

These include:

• Duty of care. For example, the manufacturer of a defective product owes all who will use its product to construct a safe product that will not burn consumers who use it as intended and provide clear instructions or warnings if the product poses a risk of burns.
• Breached a duty of care. You have to prove that the defendant breached their duty of care by failing to act with sufficient care, such as by taking shortcuts in a manufacturing process or failing to provide sufficient warning about a known danger.
• Breach of duty caused your accident. Your accident must be a direct result of the breach of the duty of care. Even if the defendant breached their duty of care, they might not be liable if that breach was not the actual cause of your injuries.
• The accident caused serious injuries and damage. You must prove that the burns you suffered caused the expenses and impacts for which you are demanding compensation. You must produce evidence that you have incurred pain, suffering, medical costs, or other significant damages from the burn accident.

Common Damages in a Boston Burn Injury Case

You can claim certain damages—the legal term for compensation—in a Boston burn injury case, including:

• Loss of income and earning capacity. Taking time off work to recover from burn injuries is considered lost income. And if you cannot return to work in the same position because of your injuries, you can claim damages for future lost wages and earning capacity.
• Medical expenses. Any medical expenses you incurred because of a burn accident can be compensable, including surgery expenses, emergency room costs, and fees for ongoing medication, therapy, and other treatments.
• Psychological or emotional distress. Any burn accident can cause severe psychological or emotional trauma, such as PTSD.
• Loss of life enjoyment. If you can no longer participate in and enjoy activities you loved before your accident, you can claim a loss of enjoyment as damages in your claim.

Boston Burn Injury Lawyer FAQ Page

Boston is not a huge city, but is very family-oriented, with many parks, libraries, and schools to encourage family fun and education. Just like any other city in the United States, however, Boston has accidents. Residents and visitors of Boston are busy, and with so much to do, preventable accidents take place.

Burn injuries normally cause severe damage, not only to people’s bodies, but also to their lives, relationships, future earnings, and more. If you have suffered a burn injury, seek help from medical professionals and experienced burn injury lawyers to reduce the damage as much as possible.

Below, we answer some frequently asked questions about burn injury claims. If you have questions about a specific Boston burn injury case, don’t hesitate to reach out to the lawyers at Jacoby & Meyers, LLP for further guidance.

Q: What Must You Prove In A Boston Burn Injury Case?

You must prove four things to establish a burn injury claim and recover damages.

1. You must prove that the person you file the claim against owed you a duty of care. For example, an employer must maintain equipment to avoid it causing burn injuries or other harm.
2. You must prove that the defendant breached their duty of care. If an employer failed to warn you about or fix faulty equipment, they breached their duty of care to protect you from harm.
3. You must prove that the breach led to your burns. Your employer’s breach of their duty of care must directly cause your burns.
4. You must prove substantial injury and loss. Finally, you must prove that the injuries you received from the breached duty of care resulted in the expenses and impacts—such as medical bills, loss of life enjoyment, emotional trauma—for which you are claiming compensation.

If, in consultation with a burn injury lawyer, you can prove these four things, your lawyer can move to the next step and gather evidence. They can file a claim against the other party’s insurance company alleging that it was the other party’s fault you were injured and that they are responsible for compensating you.

Q: How Do You Prove a Boston Burn Injury Was Not Your Fault?

Many steps go into proving who is at fault for a burn injury. In Boston, the law allows anyone to recover damages in an accident that was not their fault more than others. In most serious burn injury cases, however, someone else’s negligence likely led to your accident.

To prove that you were not at fault, you need evidence from your accident.

You should collect:

• Photographs of the scene and your injuries at the scene
• Medical records and expenses resulting from the accident
• Eyewitness statements
• Bills or invoices for ongoing medical expenses, therapy, or other costs resulting from your burn injury

These are just some common examples, and there will likely be other important evidence to collect in your specific Boston burn injury case. You need a burn injury lawyer to help you gather the right evidence to prove who is at fault in the accident. It can be difficult to determine what exactly happened, but lawyers have the resources to perform thorough investigations and find all the evidence you need.

Q: What Are the Steps in a Burn Injury Lawsuit?

First, you should call an experienced burn injury attorney for a free consultation.

Once you and your lawyer can prove your case, your lawyers will move onto the next steps.

1. You’ll meet with your lawyer and sign a contract allowing them to represent you.
2. Your lawyer will gather evidence germane to establishing the defendant’s fault and your damages, including medical records, medical bills, eyewitness statements, photos, and more.
3. Your lawyer will file a claim against the other party and will start settlement negotiations with their insurance company.
4. If your lawyer cannot settle, they can file a complaint in court for a judge or jury to try.
5. The other party will respond to the complaint, most likely with either a motion to dismiss or an answer. If you make it past their motion to dismiss, or once they file an answer, the process of discovery will begin.
6. Discovery is the time when lawyers will submit questionnaires to the other side (called interrogatories) and requests for production of evidence, obtain any necessary experts to provide reports or testimony, take depositions (verbal statements) of any parties or witnesses, and ask for admissions.
7. All the while, the parties may continue settlement negotiations. The case may settle any time before a final ruling at a trial.
8. A judge or jury will decide the case and, if the plaintiff prevails, award damages.

Q: What Compensation Can I Claim In A Boston Burn Injury?

A: In a Boston burn injury case, you can claim compensation for any expenses or impacts you have experienced from your injuries. You will have to gather evidence to prove these expenses and impacts.

You can claim economic and non-economic damages, including:

• Medical expenses, both present expenses and future expenses (emergency room visits, surgeries, ongoing therapy or medication, etc.)
• Pain and suffering, which are particularly poignant in a burn injury case. The amount of compensation for your pain and suffering will be determined in part by how long they will endure. If you will suffer for the rest of your life from scarring, disfigurement, pain, and expenses, you may be able to recover significant compensation for pain and suffering.
• Loss of wages, usually represented as the loss of income you incurred from taking time off of work to heal.
• Loss of future wages or earning capacity, if your injuries make it impossible for you to return to work or to work in the same job, making the amount of income you did before the accident.
• Loss of life enjoyment, if your injury makes it impossible for you to engage in activities you used to love.
• Loss of consortium, if your injury prevents or diminishes your ability to have intimate relations with a spouse or domestic partner.

With help from your lawyer, you can determine all the damages you are potentially eligible to receive. You can then tally up all such damages and file a claim to recover that amount from the at-fault parties.

Q: How Much Compensation Will I Get?

The amount of compensation you can recover in a Boston burn injury case will vary greatly, and depend on the circumstances. Compensation in a burn injury case is often quite high because burn injuries cause a lot of serious and long-lasting damage.

In past cases, Jacoby and Meyers, LLP has won hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars for clients who suffered from burn injuries. No outcome is guaranteed, but you may be able to recover substantial compensation if you have suffered significant losses and medical expenses from a burn injury.

Q: Does Insurance Matter In Boston Burn Injury Cases?

Insurance is normally extremely important in Boston burn injury cases. For one thing, you may have to initially deal with workers’ compensation insurance if you sustained your injury at work. Beyond that, insurance is typically the primary source of compensation.

In Boston, most companies must carry insurance in case of any accidents on their premises. They should have workers’ compensation insurance to cover their employees. They should also have general liability insurance so they can cover injuries to anyone caused at their place of business.

If you suffer from a burn injury, you will likely have to deal with insurance companies to get the compensation you need. Most individuals and businesses do not have enough cash on hand to cover all damages that you may suffer after your accident. They need the necessary insurance coverage so they can pay for your damages.

Q: How Soon Do I Need to Bring a Claim?

In Boston, your deadline to file a lawsuit is three years from the date of the burn injury accident.

Q: Do I Need Experts to Help Prove My Boston Burn Injury Claim?

In most burn injury cases, lawyers will call upon experts to help them with the claim. These experts will likely be professionals with experience in burn injuries.

Your lawyers must prove how exactly your injury occurred. Sometimes, finding eyewitness evidence or enough photographic evidence from the scene is difficult. Expert witnesses can help fill in the blanks to determine how an accident likely occurred based on the available evidence.

In addition, experts can help prove how much you will be able to claim in a burn injury case. Though your injuries are very serious, the long-lasting consequences of burn injuries are hard to prove with only a few years to make a claim. A burn injury expert will provide their expert opinion and evidence on how much the burn injury will end up affecting your life.

Q: Do I Need a Burn Injury Lawyer to Help Me With My Boston Burn Injury Claim?

You should hire an experienced burn injury lawyer to help you with your claim. Many people are concerned that lawyers will cost them too much time, money, and stress. However, in reality, lawyers help their clients save time, recover more money, and minimize stress.

Your most important task after a burn injury is to focus on your medical recovery. When you hire a burn injury lawyer, you can leave the vast majority of the investigation, negotiation, and claim processing up to them. That way, you can spend your time healing and recovering instead of stressing about the negotiation and how to process your claim.

Lawyers know how to deal with insurance companies and their lawyers. Many self-represented individuals settle for whatever an insurance company offers, not realizing a lawyer could help them earn more.

Burn injury lawyers also work on a contingency basis. They usually take no payment until you win your case. At that point, they will take a percentage of your settlement as payment. That means you pay nothing out of pocket unless they succeed in your case, and you will likely recover more with a lawyer than without one.

If you’ve suffered from a burn injury case and don’t know where to start gathering evidence and preparing for your future, reach out to a burn injury lawyer at Jacoby & Meyers today. We will provide you with a free consultation and explain the process to you more clearly, so you know exactly what to expect.

Hire Our Burn Injury Lawyers After a Boston Burn Accident

You might hesitate to hire a burn injury lawyer after your Boston burn incident. You may feel that hiring a lawyer is another unnecessary expense or stress on your already expensive and stressful situation. However, in most cases, hiring a lawyer will be one of the best favors you can do yourself.

An experienced Boston burn injury attorney knows how to collect evidence and research the law to establish your compensation claim. They can deal with insurance companies and other lawyers involved in the case. In most situations, the defending insurance company or individual will fight paying you what you deserve. With help from a Boston burn injury lawyer, you have a trained professional to push back and pursue all the compensation you deserve, without having to stress about the negotiations all on your own as you recover from your injuries.

A good burn injury lawyer will lift most of the stress from your shoulders to help you get back on your feet as soon as possible. Furthermore, most burn injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis, which means you don’t pay them unless you settle your claim or succeed in recovering a court award of damages on your behalf. At that point, they take their fee from a percentage of your monetary recovery.

If you’ve been burned badly in an accident that wasn’t your fault, don’t go it alone. Start on your road to financial recovery by reaching out to a Boston burn injury lawyer at Jacoby & Meyers, LLP for a free consultation at (877) 472-3061. And with our help, you can get back on the road to recovery as fast as possible.

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