Burn Injury Claim: Who Is Liable and How the Value Is Set

Vehicle fires after crashes are a leading cause of burn injuries in injury claims, and the liable party is the at-fault driver and, where a fuel system or battery failed in a way it should not have, the vehicle manufacturer. Electric vehicle battery fires have added a product liability dimension to crash burns. Motorcycle riders are especially exposed to exhaust and road burns.

Workplace burns, from flash fires, explosions, hot liquids, molten metal, chemicals and electrical arcs, are covered by workers' compensation against the employer, and by a separate negligence claim against any other party responsible: a general contractor, an equipment manufacturer, a utility, or a property owner. Scalds in rental housing, from water heaters set too high or defective fixtures, are claims against the landlord, and many states regulate maximum water temperature. Product burns, from defective appliances, heaters, e-cigarettes and flammable clothing, are claims against the manufacturer and seller without any need to prove negligence.

Chemical burns at work or from consumer products, and electrical burns from contact with lines or equipment, follow the same pattern: identify who controlled the hazard and whether a product failed. Serious burns often involve more than one liable party, and identifying all of them matters because the damages are large.

Burns are described by depth. First-degree burns affect the outer layer of skin and heal without scarring. Second-degree or partial-thickness burns extend into the dermis, blister, are intensely painful and may scar. Third-degree or full-thickness burns destroy the full skin thickness, require grafting to heal, and always scar. Fourth-degree burns extend into muscle and bone. The second measure is total body surface area, estimated in percentages; burns over large areas are life-threatening and require specialized burn center care.

Depth and area decide treatment, and treatment decides much of the claim's value. A partial-thickness burn on a forearm heals with dressings over weeks. A full-thickness burn over 20 percent of the body means burn center admission, multiple grafting surgeries, weeks of hospitalization, months of therapy, pressure garments, and a lifetime of scar management.

The complications are what make serious burn claims serious: infection, which burn patients are highly vulnerable to; contractures, where scar tissue tightens and limits joint movement, often requiring release surgery; nerve damage with chronic pain or loss of sensation; heat intolerance from destroyed sweat glands; and the psychological effects of disfigurement, which are a recognized component of damages.

Suppose you were stopped in traffic when a truck struck your car from behind, rupturing the fuel tank. The car caught fire and you suffered full-thickness burns to both hands and forearms and partial-thickness burns to your neck and face, about 12 percent of your body surface. You spent three weeks in a burn center, had two grafting surgeries, and then months of hand therapy. At one year you have contractures in two fingers scheduled for release surgery, visible scarring on your hands and neck, and cannot do the fine manual work your job required.

Medical bills reached $310,000 in the first year, with the release surgery and ongoing scar management still ahead. You have not returned to your previous work. The claim against the truck's carrier presented the bills, the future surgery and care estimated by the burn surgeon, the lost earning capacity with a vocational assessment, and pain and suffering for the burns, the grafts, the treatment and the permanent disfigurement of your hands and face.

A separate claim against the vehicle manufacturer, for a fuel tank that ruptured in a rear impact it should have withstood, was evaluated by a product liability attorney, because the carrier's policy was unlikely to cover the full value. All figures are hypothetical; serious burn claims are among the highest-value injury claims because the treatment is long and the disfigurement is permanent.

Burn claims depend on medical records that are unusually detailed and on physical evidence that is unusually likely to be destroyed.

• Get treatment at a burn center for anything beyond a minor burn; burn center records document depth, area and treatment in the terms the claim needs.
• Preserve the vehicle, product, appliance or equipment that caused the burn; do not let it be scrapped, repaired or returned, since it is the evidence of a defect.
• Photograph the burns at every stage, from the first days through grafting, healing and scar maturation, since the appearance changes and early photographs cannot be recreated.
• For a workplace burn, report it to the employer immediately and find out whether OSHA was notified; the inspection report is key evidence against third parties.
• For a scald in rental housing, photograph the water heater setting and have the water temperature measured before anything is adjusted.
• Keep a daily log of pain, dressing changes, therapy and what you cannot do; burn pain is severe and sustained, and the record of it supports the claim.
• Do not settle until the burn surgeon has described the long-term plan, including revision surgeries, contracture releases and scar management.

Burn claims from crashes follow the state's rules for any crash: comparative negligence, with the contributory negligence states, Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, barring recovery for any fault; no-fault thresholds in Florida, Michigan, New York and New Jersey, which serious burns easily meet; and the injury deadline, one year in Tennessee and Kentucky, two in Texas, California, Florida and Georgia, three in New York and North Carolina.

Product liability claims against manufacturers have their own rules. Most states impose strict liability for defective products, so negligence need not be proven, but some have statutes of repose that bar claims for products older than a set number of years, and the deadline may differ from the general injury deadline. Workplace burns are workers' compensation claims against the employer, with the compensation insurer holding a lien on any third-party recovery.

Damage caps matter more in burn claims than in most, because pain and suffering and disfigurement are the largest components. States that cap non-economic damages generally do so with exceptions for permanent and substantial disfigurement or catastrophic injury, and serious burns usually fall within those exceptions, but the cap's wording in the specific state decides it. Scald claims in rental housing may involve state water-temperature regulations that establish the landlord's duty.

Three features set burn claims apart. The pain is extreme and sustained, through the injury, the debridement, the grafting and the healing, and juries understand that without expert help. The disfigurement is permanent and, on the face and hands, visible in every interaction for the rest of the injured person's life, and the law in every state recognizes disfigurement as a distinct element of damages. And the treatment does not end; revision surgeries, contracture releases and scar management continue for years, and the future cost is part of the claim when a burn surgeon documents it.

Those features mean that serious burn claims routinely exceed the liable party's insurance, which is why identifying every liable party, including product manufacturers and third parties at a workplace, is the first task. It also means that the injured person's own underinsured motorist coverage, in a crash case, is often the difference between a claim that is paid and one that is not.

Minor burns that heal without scarring are valued like any minor injury. The step change comes with grafting, visible scarring, contractures or nerve damage, and the burn surgeon's records are what document each.

A serious burn claim is a claim with multiple possible defendants, physical evidence that is destroyed quickly, treatment that continues for years, and damages that often exceed any single policy. The questions to answer early are who all the liable parties are, whether the product or vehicle has been preserved, and what coverage exists on every side. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency, and serious burn and product cases are a specialty within the field.

Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in your state, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say what the claim is worth. If you or a family member suffered a burn injury caused by someone else, you can request a free claim review.

• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Truck Accident Claims: Liability, Federal Rules and Compensation
• Workplace Injury Claims: Workers' Compensation and Third-Party Lawsuits
• Airbag Did Not Deploy in a Crash: Can You Sue, and Whom?
• At Fault in a Car Accident? Comparative Negligence Explained
• What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement? What Sets the Value
• Back and Neck Injury Settlement After a Car Accident: Factors
• Bicycle Accident Claim: Hit by a Car While Riding
• Broken Bone Car Accident Settlement: What Drives the Value

Need local rules? Choose your state from the injury law guides hub or read the statute of limitations by state.