Fighting for Recovery After Catastrophic Burn Injuries in Austin
Traumatic burn injuries are among the most painful and complex injuries, often caused by explosions, defective products, or workplace negligence. Survivors face years of surgeries, disfigurement, and immense emotional trauma.
Securing compensation for this lifetime of care requires specific legal experience dealing with serious and catastrophic injuries. At LGR, our Austin burn injury attorneys are ready to fight for your future. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Do I Need a Burn Injury Lawyer in an Austin Personal Injury Case?
Yes, hiring an experienced burn injury lawyer is critical. Burn injury claims are intensely complex because the damages are catastrophic and long-term. Insurers will aggressively undervalue the costs of future care.
An Austin burn injury lawyer is essential to:
- Accurately Value Damages: Working with burn specialists, plastic surgeons, and life-care planners to project the multi-stage costs of revision surgeries and therapy over a lifetime.
- Prove Liability: Investigating technical failures (e.g., defective products or explosions) that caused the injury.
- Combat Disfigurement Bias: Objectively presenting the emotional and psychological trauma associated with permanent scarring and disfigurement to maximize non-economic damages.
LGR’s Austin Burn Injury Attorneys Fight Aggressively for Survivors and Families
Burn injury cases are among the most difficult to litigate due to the catastrophic, multi-stage nature of the survivor’s recovery. At LGR, our strategy is based on specific experience and aggressive investigation to maximize lifetime compensation.
Meticulous Evidence Preservation
We know burn cases involving explosions, chemicals, or electrical exposure rely on fragile evidence. Our first action is to issue immediate spoliation notices to prevent defendants (like property owners or manufacturers) from altering or destroying the source of the fire or defect.
Specialized Damages and Expert Testimony
Burn injuries involve unique damages extending years into the future. We collaborate with medical experts, including plastic surgeons and burn rehabilitation specialists, to fully value both economic and non-economic damages.
Our Austin burn injury attorneys meticulously present the survivor’s recovery journey to the jury, translating the classification of burns into a clear picture of lifelong suffering and financial need.
Compensation in Texas Burn Injury Cases
Burn injury lawsuits in Texas yield some of the highest personal injury awards because the resulting trauma is often permanent, requires decades of treatment, and involves profound physical and emotional loss.
Compensation is aggressively pursued to cover the immense financial and personal burden placed on the survivor and their family.
Economic Damages
Texas law ensures that survivors recover all measurable financial losses without limits, making thorough documentation of future costs essential.
- Medical Costs: Emergency transport, hospital stays at specialized burn centers, infection control, future reconstructive surgeries (skin grafts, scar revision), and necessary rehabilitation.
- Lost Income: Wages lost during immediate recovery and compensation for diminished earning capacity (future loss) due to disfigurement or physical limitations.
Non-Economic Damages
These compensate for the non-monetary, human cost of the injury, often forming the largest part of the settlement.
- Pain and Suffering: The extreme, continuous physical pain and discomfort associated with burns and long-term recovery.
- Disfigurement: Compensation for permanent scarring and changes to physical appearance, and the severe emotional distress it causes.
- Mental Anguish: Recovery for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression.
- Physical Impairment: Compensation for the functional loss of a body part or limb, such as reduced range of motion, muscle weakness, or nerve damage that limits the ability to perform daily activities.
- Loss of Enjoyment of Life: Damages for the inability to participate in hobbies, sports, social events, and other activities that brought the survivor pleasure before the injury.
- Loss of Consortium: Compensation awarded to the survivor’s spouse for the detrimental impact the injury has had on the spousal relationship, including lost support, comfort, and intimacy.
Punitive Damages
If the burn was caused by a defendant’s gross negligence (e.g., a chemical company knowingly storing volatile materials unsafely), the survivor may also seek punitive damages to punish the reckless party.
Types of Austin Burn Injury Claims We Handle
Burn injuries are severe and often stem from high-energy events caused by another party’s negligence. At LGR, we understand that successful recovery relies on identifying the specific legal theory of liability, which varies based on the source of the heat or energy.
We meticulously investigate the cause of your injury to file a claim against the parties who breached their duty of care, whether they are individuals, companies, or manufacturers. These claims often involve specialized safety codes and engineering analysis to establish fault.
- Motor Vehicle Accidents: Collisions resulting in vehicle fires or fuel tank explosions, often caused by the negligence of the at-fault driver or the improper placement/design of the fuel tank.
- Workplace Accidents: Injuries on construction sites, industrial facilities, or oil fields due to electrocution from exposed wires, chemical spills, or boiler/pipeline explosions caused by OSHA violations.
- Premises Liability: Accidents on commercial or residential property due to a landlord’s or business owner’s negligence, such as faulty wiring causing house fires, scalding water from unchecked plumbing, or contact with dangerously hot surfaces.
- Defective Products: Claims against manufacturers for products that malfunction, including exploding household appliances, defective space heaters, or flawed electrical systems in vehicles.
- Electrical Injuries: Trauma caused by contact with downed power lines or exposed wiring, typically leading to severe internal and external burns and long-term nerve damage.
Common Burn Injuries Sustained by Victims in Austin
Burn injuries are classified by degree, reflecting the depth of tissue damage. These injuries are uniquely devastating, often requiring specialized, long-term medical care far exceeding standard injury claims.
First-Degree Burns
First-degree burns affect only the outermost layer of skin (epidermis), causing redness and pain (like a mild sunburn). These are usually not the subject of a lawsuit.
Second-Degree Burns
Damages the epidermis and the layer beneath (dermis). They cause blisters, severe pain, and swelling. While these can heal, they often result in permanent scarring and pigmentation changes.
Third-Degree Burns
Destroys both the epidermis and the entire dermis. The injury may appear white, charred, or leathery and is often numb due to complete nerve destruction. These wounds require skin grafts and result in permanent disfigurement.
Fourth-Degree Burns and Higher
These are the most catastrophic, extending through the skin into muscle, tendon, or bone. They are the most likely to cause amputation, severe disability, and be fatal.
Fatal Burn Injuries in Texas
Fatal burn injuries in Texas are typically the result of catastrophic events like industrial explosions, residential fires, or high-voltage electrocution. These tragic incidents give rise to wrongful death claims against the negligent party.
Compensation for families is crucial and includes economic losses (lost financial support) and non-economic losses (grief, sorrow, and loss of companionship). An Austin burn injury attorney must act quickly to secure evidence and file the claim to hold the negligent party fully accountable.
Who Is Responsible for Burn Injuries in Austin?
Financial responsibility for burn injuries in Austin is determined by identifying the individual or entity whose negligence or breach of a safety duty caused the thermal, chemical, or electrical trauma.
Texas law allows survivors to pursue compensation from all parties in the chain of causation. The defendant’s identity dictates the type of claim filed (premises liability, product liability, or negligence).
- Property Owners/Landlords: Liable under premises liability for maintaining unsafe conditions, such as faulty or exposed electrical wiring, code violations leading to building fires, or dangerously scalding water systems.
- Product Manufacturers/Sellers: Liable through product liability (often strict liability) if the burn resulted from a defective appliance (e.g., an exploding stove), dangerous chemicals, or a product lacking adequate safety warnings.
- Utility/Power Companies: Liable for electrocution injuries caused by poorly maintained or low-hanging power lines and failure to follow the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC).
- Employers/General Contractors: Liable in workplace accident injuries caused by OSHA violations, industrial explosions, or unsafe handling of chemicals.
