Burn Injury Lawyers in Atlanta
If You’re a Burn Victim, Our Georgia Attorneys Can Help You File a Claim for Compensation
Have you or someone you love suffered severe burns in an accident? You can count on Gary Martin Hays & Associates for vigorous, bold legal representation in your burn injury case. Call 1-800-898-HAYS right now. Our experienced Atlanta burn injury attorneys know how to gather all the relevant facts and build a strong case for the maximum compensation you deserve under Georgia law.
If you've been burned, you may be dealing with scarring and disfigurement, as well as the loss of sensation and feeling due to nerve damage. The emotional trauma of being trapped in a burning vehicle after a car accident, sustaining burns in an apartment fire, or suffering a chemical burn can be devastating.
Depending on your circumstances, you may have a claim against a negligent party, such as another motorist, manufacturer, or property owner.
Gary Martin Hays & Associates has experience handling a variety of personal injury claims, including burn injury lawsuits, and has access to the resources necessary to successfully resolve your case.
“Gary Martin Hays law firm is amazing. My husband passed away tragically in Aug. 2020. From the time I called in that first day, I felt like family.”
- Amanda L., ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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FAQs About Burn Injury Claims and Lawsuits in Georgia
- What should I do immediately after suffering a burn injury?
- Can I sue for a burn injury?
- Who can be held liable for my burn injury?
- What types of compensation can I seek after a burn injury in Georgia?
- How does Georgia law handle wrongful death claims related to burn injuries?
- How long do I have to file a burn injury claim in Georgia?
- What makes burn injury claims complex?
- What should I do if my burn injury occurred at work?
- What if my burn injury resulted from a defective product?
- How can legal action after a burn injury help prevent financial hardship?
- What should I look for when choosing a burn injury lawyer?
- Why is it important to act quickly after a burn injury?
- How do burn injuries affect victims and their families?
- What are the different degrees of burn injuries?
- What should I know about chemical burns?
- What are the unique challenges of electrical burn injuries?
- How do explosion burn injuries happen, and who might be responsible?
- What specialized care does the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta provide for burn victims?
What should I do immediately after suffering a burn injury?
Burn injuries can be overwhelming, both physically and emotionally. Acting quickly after such an injury can protect your health and your ability to recover compensation. Here are the steps you should take:
- Seek Immediate Medical Attention: Prompt treatment is crucial for minimizing complications, preventing infections, and documenting your injury for potential legal claims.
- Follow Your Doctor’s Recommendations: Adhering to prescribed treatments, therapies, and follow-ups ensures your best chance at recovery.
- Document the Incident: Take photos of your injuries, the scene of the accident, and any contributing hazards. If possible, get the contact information of any witnesses.
- Report the Incident: Notify your employer, property owner, or other relevant parties about the accident to establish an official record.
- Preserve Evidence: Save clothing, equipment, or other items involved in the incident that may show signs of negligence.
- Consult an Experienced Atlanta Burn Injury Lawyer: A lawyer can guide you through the legal process, investigate the circumstances of your injury, and ensure your rights are protected.
Burn injuries often result in costly medical bills and long-term effects. Having a skilled lawyer ensures you don’t face these challenges alone and helps you seek the compensation you deserve.
Can I sue for a burn injury?
Georgia law allows burn injury victims to file a lawsuit if their injuries were caused by another party’s negligence. To succeed, you must prove that the responsible party owed you a duty of care, breached that duty, and caused your injuries as a result. Consulting an experienced burn injury lawyer can help you gather evidence, establish liability, and determine the best legal course of action to seek compensation.
Who can be held liable for my burn injury?
Determining liability is a critical step in pursuing justice for your burn injury. Liability depends on the specific circumstances of your case. Potential parties who may be held accountable include:
- Property Owners: If unsafe conditions, such as faulty wiring or lack of fire safety measures, caused your injury, the property owner may be liable under premises liability laws.
- Employers: Workplace burns may lead to workers’ compensation claims. If a third party contributed to the incident, they could also share liability.
- Product Manufacturers: Faulty or dangerous products, such as defective machinery or flammable materials, may make manufacturers or distributors responsible under product liability laws.
- Negligent Individuals: A person whose careless actions directly led to your injury, such as mishandling chemicals or improperly storing flammable substances, could be held accountable.
- Government Entities: In some cases, poor maintenance of public spaces or noncompliance with safety regulations can make a government entity liable.
Identifying all responsible parties is crucial to recovering full compensation. An experienced burn injury lawyer can investigate your case, uncover negligence, and hold the right parties accountable.
What types of compensation can I seek after a burn injury in Georgia?
Burn injuries often cause extensive physical, emotional, and financial hardships. Georgia law allows victims to seek compensation for various damages, including:
- Medical Expenses: This includes hospital stays, surgeries, skin grafts, medications, therapy, and ongoing care.
- Lost Wages: If your injury prevents you from working, you may recover compensation for current and future income loss.
- Pain and Suffering: Severe burns often result in significant physical pain, emotional trauma, and diminished quality of life.
- Disfigurement and Scarring: Compensation may cover the psychological impact and costs of reconstructive surgeries for permanent scarring or disfigurement.
- Punitive Damages: In rare cases of egregious negligence, courts may award punitive damages to deter similar behavior in the future.
Navigating compensation claims is challenging, especially when calculating long-term impacts. A lawyer ensures you don’t leave money on the table and helps you recover the full amount you’re entitled to.
How does Georgia law handle wrongful death claims related to burn injuries?
If a loved one passes away due to burn injuries caused by negligence, Georgia law allows surviving family members to file a wrongful death claim. This type of claim seeks compensation for the loss of the deceased’s financial support, companionship, and funeral expenses. A burn injury lawyer can help you navigate this emotionally challenging process and ensure you seek justice for your loved one.
How long do I have to file a burn injury claim in Georgia?
The statute of limitations for filing a burn injury claim in Georgia is generally two years from the date of the injury. Acting promptly is crucial, as waiting too long can bar you from recovering compensation. A lawyer can ensure you meet all deadlines and help preserve critical evidence to strengthen your case.
What makes burn injury claims complex?
Burn injury claims often involve intricate legal and medical factors. Understanding these complexities can help you prepare for the process:
- Severity of Injuries: Burn injuries often require extensive documentation, medical evaluations, and expert testimony to prove their impact.
- Multiple Liable Parties: Identifying all responsible parties, such as property owners, employers, or manufacturers, requires thorough investigation.
- Insurance Challenges: Insurance companies often attempt to minimize payouts, requiring skilled negotiation or litigation to secure fair compensation.
- Long-Term Damages: Burn victims often face lifelong consequences, such as disfigurement, chronic pain, and psychological trauma, which must be factored into the claim.
- Legal Deadlines: Georgia’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims is generally two years, but delays can jeopardize your case.
- Comparative Negligence: Georgia follows a comparative negligence rule, which means your compensation may be reduced if you are found partially at fault for the accident. Determining and disputing fault percentages can complicate the legal process and require skilled legal advocacy to ensure you recover a fair amount.
Given these challenges, having a knowledgeable burn injury lawyer can streamline the process, protect your rights, and ensure your claim is properly valued.
What should I do if my burn injury occurred at work?
Workplace burn injuries are particularly complex, as they often involve workers’ compensation claims or third-party liability. Here’s what you should do:
- Report the Injury Immediately: Notify your employer and file an official report to ensure your claim is documented.
- Seek Medical Attention: Visit an approved workers’ compensation doctor for treatment and follow all recommendations.
- Document the Accident: Take photos of the injury, work environment, and any contributing factors.
- File a Georgia Workers’ Compensation Claim: This can cover medical expenses and lost wages, but it may not compensate for pain and suffering.
- Explore Third-Party Claims: If another party, such as a contractor or equipment manufacturer, contributed to your injury, you may be able to file an additional claim.
A burn injury lawyer can help you navigate both workers’ compensation and third-party claims to maximize your recovery and hold negligent parties accountable.
What if my burn injury resulted from a defective product?
If a defective product caused your burn injury, you may have grounds for a product liability claim against the manufacturer, distributor, or retailer. Common claims involve faulty machinery, flammable materials, or inadequate safety warnings. A burn injury lawyer can investigate your case, identify liable parties, and pursue compensation for your injuries and losses.
How can legal action after a burn injury help prevent financial hardship?
Burn injuries often lead to extensive medical bills, lost wages, and long-term care expenses, which can create significant financial strain. Filing a legal claim ensures you can seek compensation to cover these costs, protecting your financial stability. An experienced lawyer can help maximize your recovery and ensure you don’t bear the burden of someone else’s negligence alone.
What should I look for when choosing a burn injury lawyer?
Selecting the right lawyer can make all the difference in your burn injury case. Consider the following factors when making your decision:
- Experience With Burn Injury Cases: Look for a lawyer with a proven track record in handling complex burn injury claims.
- Knowledge of Georgia Laws: Familiarity with local laws, such as premises liability and workers’ compensation, is essential.
- Resources for Investigation: Choose a firm with access to medical experts, accident reconstruction specialists, and other resources needed to build a strong case.
- Compassionate Approach: Your lawyer should understand the emotional and physical toll of your injury and provide personalized support.
- Strong Negotiation and Trial Skills: Ensure your lawyer has a history of securing favorable settlements and taking cases to trial when necessary.
An experienced burn injury lawyer in Atlanta can guide you through every step of the process, making it easier to focus on healing while pursuing the justice and compensation you deserve.
Why is it important to act quickly after a burn injury?
Acting quickly helps preserve evidence, identify witnesses, and build a stronger case for your burn injury claim. Delays can make it harder to prove negligence and meet Georgia’s statute of limitations. Consulting a lawyer promptly ensures you take the necessary steps to protect your rights and pursue the compensation you deserve.
How do burn injuries affect victims and their families?
Through our experience with burn injury cases, we have seen all the ways that a burn injury victim's family can be financially strained trying to care for their loved ones. Medical treatment often lasts for months or even years. A permanent disability, such as loss of vision or use of the hands, can affect how burn victims live the rest of their lives. Burn injury care may require the following procedures:
- Physical, speech, or vocational therapy
- Numerous skin grafts to repair the damaged area
- Treatment for surface area infections
- Skilled nursing care or attendant care
- Counseling for depression and emotional trauma
What are the different degrees of burn injuries?
A burn injury victim may experience redness of the skin and some pain (a first-degree burn). In extreme cases, a victim may sustain a deep tissue burn injury (a fourth-degree burn).
Burn injuries can happen suddenly at home or at work. If someone's negligent behavior was the source of your injury, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact a Georgia burn injury lawyer to arrange a free case review.
Burns are categorized by degrees, from first to fourth:
- First-Degree Burn: The least serious type of burn. Characterized by redness of the skin and minor pain. A first-degree burn may be caused by hot liquids.
- Second-Degree Burn: The next level of severity. A second-degree burn is characterized by blisters and superficial destruction of the dermis (the thick underlayer of the skin). A scalding liquid, contact with flame, or a flash injury (an explosion) may cause a second-degree burn.
- Third-Degree Burn: Extremely severe burns that extend into the deeper tissue, causing destruction of the dermis and the epidermis (the outer layer of the skin) as well as damage to the muscle. Exposure to flame may cause a third-degree burn. An electrical burn or chemical burn also may cause a third-degree burn injury.
- Fourth-Degree Burn: Deep tissue burns that are life-threatening. Characterized by destruction of the skin, muscle, and even the bone. This type of burn may be due to prolonged contact with flames, such as in a house fire or a high-voltage electric shock.
What should I know about chemical burns?
Whether you are at work or at home, you may need to use chemicals at one time or another. While you run the risk of a chemical burn injury when you are simply cleaning around the house, you are most at risk for a chemical burn injury if you work in an industrial job. An industrial accident can lead to a serious chemical burn, which may be grounds for a workers' compensation claim or a third-party claim, depending on the circumstances.
Chemical burns can be a result of direct skin contact with an acid or base. Examples include ammonia, sulfuric acid, and hydrochloric acid. Chemical burns commonly cause injuries to the arms, legs, face, and eyes. In some cases, someone may sustain a lung or throat injury from inhaling a chemical.
An industrial accident or construction accident may cause chemical burn injuries to a worker. For example, a construction worker involved in a road project may come into direct contact with liquid concrete products and sustain a serious injury.
Caustic chemicals are used in cleaning products such as drain cleaners, bleach, paint thinner, and batteries.
Chemical burn injuries can cause permanent disfigurement and scarring and may affect mobility. In some cases, serious chemical burn injuries can result in death. If a serious burn has changed your life forever, we're here for you.
What are the unique challenges of electrical burn injuries?
If you come into contact with an electrical current, you may sustain an electrical burn injury. Unlike other types of burn injuries, electrical burn injuries can lead to health conditions outside of burns to the skin and tissue. Victims may experience heart fibrillations, brain damage, internal damage, and damage to the nervous system due to the electric shock.
Electrical burn injuries can be sustained at home or at work. At home, children, in particular, are vulnerable to electrical burns. They may put objects into an outlet or an electrical cord into their mouth. A landlord may be responsible for injuries in some cases, which may be grounds for a premises liability lawsuit — if, for instance, the landlord failed to replace faulty wiring. In other cases, an electrical burn at home may be due to a faulty product, which means you might be able to recover compensation in a product liability lawsuit.
Workers who conduct their jobs near power lines or high-voltage wires may sustain injuries if they mishandle the wires or power lines. If you were injured at work, an electrical burn injury attorney in Georgia may be able to assist you with a workers' compensation claim or a third-party negligence lawsuit.
How do explosion burn injuries happen, and who might be responsible?
Burns related to a gas explosion, a pipeline explosion, or a workplace explosion can be severe and devastating. An explosion burn accident can happen in an instant, but the impact may be felt for a lifetime.
With explosion cases, it's important to retain an experienced personal injury attorney who has the resources to conduct a thorough investigation. In typical burn explosion cases, we examine all possible factors. A few questions we may ask include: Were there any building code violations? Was a defective product to blame? Was there unsafe handling of gas or other explosive materials?
An explosion injury may occur in an industrial setting as a result of a gas leak or a blast involving a gasoline-powered machine or tool. With homeowners using natural gas or propane, people in houses or apartments are also at risk of injury. Depending on the circumstances, an injury at home may be grounds for a premises liability claim.
A victim of an explosion burn may be coping with the most serious third- or fourth-degree burn injuries. Severe burns may require lengthy hospitalization, rehabilitation, and a lifetime of medical treatment. In addition to pain and suffering, a burn injury victim may endure significant financial losses related to skyrocketing medical bills, loss of income, and other deep monetary losses.
A burn injury lawyer in Georgia with our firm knows how to skillfully negotiate a full and fair settlement for a client facing steep losses. We are not afraid to take a case to trial if necessary.
What specialized care does the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta provide for burn victims?
When people are seriously burned and injured, they may require specialized care and long-term treatment. In Georgia, the community is lucky to have the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in Augusta. The medical professionals at the burn center have experience and access to the latest technology. Burn patients receive exceptional care from a respected, multidisciplinary team of providers.
"The Joseph M. Still Burn Center is a valuable resource for the community," said personal injury attorney Gary Martin Hays. "Patients who are coping with all types of burn injuries are able to get the treatment they need from the professionals at the burn center in Augusta."
A state-of-the-art burn center for injury victims and researchers
Burn injury victims in Georgia and elsewhere in the United States can face significant challenges due to the nature of their injuries. The Augusta Burn Center uses state-of-the-art technology to provide patients with the best available burn care solutions. The burn center takes in more than 3,000 patients each year from the Southeast. In addition to offering top care to patients and conducting burn research, the center provides professional training programs and raises fire prevention awareness.
There are many ways people can sustain burn injuries. In house fires, people can sustain devastating third-degree burns. On the job, workers may get injured due to chemical burns or burns from explosions, to name a few examples. Many people who have suffered from serious burn injuries get top treatment from the Joseph M. Still Burn Center.
Contact an Atlanta Burn Injury Attorney Today
If your injury was due to the negligence of another individual or business, a burn injury lawyer can help. At the Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C., we have the legal answers victims in Georgia and their families are looking for.
We understand how medical bills associated with burn injury treatment can quickly skyrocket. If you or your loved one was injured, you deserve the best treatment available. Our law firm aggressively pursues compensation to pay for full treatment, including future medical bills, rehabilitation costs, and costs related to any potential reconstructive surgery, among other expenses. To schedule a free consultation, contact our firm today. Call 1-800-898-HAYS to learn more.
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