What You Should Know About Job-Related Burn Injuries
Burn injuries are unusually common and unusually severe. These injuries, mostly temperature burns, are the fourth leading cause of unintentional death in the United States. Furthermore, about half of burn injuries affect a high-risk area, such as the eyes, face, head, neck, airway, or hands. If a burn injury is work-related, special laws apply in California.
A Carlsbad personal injury lawyer is a vital partner in the burn injury settlement process. This process begins when an attorney connects victims with doctors who focus on burn injuries and, in most cases, charge nothing upfront for their professional services. Once medical treatment is at least substantially complete, the settlement negotiation process begins in earnest. Sometimes, these injury claims settle quickly. But in most cases, work-related burn injury claims settle relatively late in the process. However long it takes, a Carlsbad personal injury lawyer is with you to the end of the line.
Workers’ Compensation
Usually, workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy for work-related burn injuries. Available benefits include:
- Lost Wage Replacement: Most work injury victims receive two-thirds of their average weekly wage (AWW) for the duration of their temporary or permanent disabilities. The AWW is based on prior wages as well as future wages, such as missed overtime opportunities because of a disability.
- Medical Bill Payment: The workers’ compensation insurance company has a legal duty to pay all reasonably necessary medical expenses. This category includes not only hospital and treatment bills but also ancillary expenses, such as medical devices. Disputes arise in this area because many insurance adjusters incorrectly believe that “reasonably necessary” means “cheapest possible.”
Injured workers don’t have to prove fault or negligence to receive these benefits. In fact, full benefits are available even if the victim was entirely at fault for the accident that caused burn injuries. Moreover, full benefits are available if a pre-existing or non-work condition contributes to the risk and/or severity of injury.
A few limited defenses, such as intoxication at the time of injury or a failure to promptly report the incident, are available in a few cases. Mostly because of this automatic liability (at least in most cases), some workers’ compensation claims take less time to resolve than other kinds of personal injury claims.
Nonsubscriber Claims
Limited financial benefits are the main downside of workers’ compensation claims. In contrast, if the victim files a civil claim, 100 percent lost wage replacement is available. So is compensation for noneconomic losses, such as emotional distress.
However, nonsubscriber claims for work-related burn injury victims are only available in limited situations. Furthermore, to obtain compensation, a Carlsbad personal injury lawyer must probe fault.
Sometimes, fault is straightforward. That’s usually the case if the employer didn’t have a valid workers’ compensation insurance policy that fully covered all employees. In these cases, as punishment for their failure to maintain insurance, employers cannot use some of the strongest legal defenses. So, it’s easier to prove negligence, or a lack of care.
A civil claim is also an option if the employer recklessly or intentionally caused a burn injury. Recklessness is one step above negligence. Ignoring a known burn hazard, like an overheated boiler, could be reckless. Employers often intentionally injure victims when they send them into dangerous areas in retaliation for something else, such as organizing a union.
The risk-reward in these work-related burn injury claims is very high. All defenses are available, so the risk is high. But additional punitive damages are usually available, so the reward is high as well.
Connect With a Diligent San Diego County Lawyer
Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Carlsbad, contact the Pursley Law Firm. Virtual, home, and hospital visits are available.
Source:
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9380358/
