If you’ve suffered a burn injury in Wilmington, North Carolina, you could be owed compensation from the person to blame and their insurance company. Let the experienced Wilmington burn injury attorneys with Poisson, Poisson & Bower, PLLC, demand this money for you, so you do not have to bear the weight of medical bills, lost income, pain, suffering, and other losses.
Call us or contact us online now for a free consultation with a burn injury lawyer in Wilmington, NC, and let’s get to work today.
Reasons to Choose Our Wilmington Burn Lawyers
For three generations and more than 40 years, the legal team at Poisson, Poisson & Bower, PLLC, has been helping people like you in Wilmington and surrounding areas of North Carolina. We are proud of the reputation we’ve built for the high quality of our advocacy, our relationships with experts who can assist your case, and the resources that enable us to handle even the most complex burn claims.
Our burn injury lawyers are not just your advocates but also your dedicated partners, handling the intricacies of your case and negotiating for a fair settlement that allows you to move on with life. Our experience and resources help us identify everyone who could be responsible for your burn injuries, which is critical to pursuing maximum compensation from all available sources.
By way of example, if you suffer burns in a car accident involving a commercial vehicle, potential defendants could include the vehicle’s driver, the business they’re driving for, the owner of the business, the owner of the vehicle, the manufacturer of the vehicle, and others. Each of these parties could be legally liable for their actions and could owe you money as a result.
We’ll start by thoroughly investigating your case to uncover all at-fault parties. After we build a solid case, we can negotiate aggressively with them for a fair out-of-court settlement that gets you paid without needing a trial. However, if the other side refuses to make a fair offer, we won’t hesitate to initiate a lawsuit and take your case to court. We aim to get you the maximum compensation and justice you deserve, and we won’t rest in our pursuit of that goal.
Types of Burn Injuries from Accidents in Wilmington, North Carolina
Almost 30,000 people are hospitalized with burn injuries each year, the American Burn Association estimates. Most of these burn injuries are caused by fires, but others are caused by scalding, electrical, chemical, and other causes.
There are three primary types of burn injuries:
- Thermal burns, caused by heat, may occur due to a fire or contact with a hot item, liquid, or steam.
- Chemical burns result from contact with caustic chemicals.
- Electrical burns occur through contact with electrical current.
Burns can be classed by their severity as follows:
- First-degree burns are the least severe type of burn, involving red skin without blisters. While usually minor, some types of chemical or electric burns may require medical treatment, even if minor.
- Second-degree burns involve blisters or thickening of the skin. While they may be painful, full recovery is often possible.
- Third-degree burns damage the deepest level of the skin, which appears white and thickened. Third-degree burns are painful and can be life-threatening, depending on how widespread the burn damage is.
Some medical authorities include fourth-degree burns as the most severe level. These burns result in extensively charred soft tissue that can extend all the way to the bone.
Types of Accidents that Cause Severe Burns
Burn injuries happen in many types of accidents. Common accidents causing burn injuries in Wilmington include:
- Car accidents – Burns can occur due to fires ignited in a crash, contact with hot vehicle components, or exposure to hazardous chemicals released during an accident, for example.
- Workplace accidents – High-risk workplaces like industrial settings, kitchens, and construction sites often expose workers to high temperatures, chemicals, or electrical hazards that can cause burns.
- Defective products – Faulty electrical appliances, overheating tech gadgets, or improperly labeled chemicals can cause burns to unsuspecting users at home or in other settings.
- Home fires – Often resulting from cooking accidents, electrical faults, or heating equipment issues, house and apartment fires are a common source of severe burn injuries.
Liability for Wilmington Burn Injuries
If you have suffered a burn injury, proving someone else caused your injury is critical to securing fair compensation for what you’ve suffered. Our attorneys can gather evidence and consult experts to establish the liability of responsible parties.
Depending on the circumstances, liable parties in your personal injury claim might include:
- Vehicle drivers – A motorist who causes a car accident that sets off a fire or otherwise causes burn injuries would likely be liable for those consequences.
- Product manufacturers – The manufacturer of a product that caused burns due to defects, poor design, or inadequate safety warnings could be responsible for your injuries in a personal injury lawsuit.
- Property owners – Property owners have a responsibility to protect lawful guests by inspecting their premises and repairing or warning of hazards. Their failure to do so could make them liable for a burn injury in a premises liability case.
- Utility companies – If a burn injury is caused by a utility malfunction, such as an electrical fire due to poorly maintained infrastructure, the utility company might be responsible.
- Workers’ compensation insurance – Employees who suffer burns in workplace accidents can typically recover workers’ compensation benefits without regard to fault.
These are just a few examples. A Wilmington personal injury lawyer from our firm can review your unique case to determine who might be held responsible for your injuries in a burn injury lawsuit.
Potential Compensation Available for Burn Victims
If you can prove another party is liable for your injuries, you can demand that they compensate you for your related losses, such as:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost wages and future lost earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Disability and disfigurement
- Emotional distress
North Carolina has a three-year statute of limitations on personal injury cases. That means you must file any injury claims within that time or lose your rights to pursue a lawsuit. Note that if you’re pursuing a wrongful death case because a family member died of burn injuries, the statute of limitations in North Carolina for such claims is just two years from the date of death.
How Our Wilmington Burn Injury Attorneys Can Help You
After a severe burn injury, it’s natural to feel anxious and overwhelmed about the future. At Poisson, Poisson & Bower, PLLC, our burn injury lawyers empathize with the physical, emotional, and financial toll these injuries can take. We’re here to support you, starting by investigating and building your burn injury case and then by dealing with insurance adjusters and even going to trial as necessary. While we do that, you can focus on healing.
Call us or contact us online today for your free initial consultation with our North Carolina personal injury attorneys.
