Can You File a First-Degree Burn Lawsuit? What You Need to Know

First-degree burns can be painful and visually unappealing, but since they’re the mildest burn injuries, many people don’t think they can file a lawsuit for a first-degree burn.

Well, things aren’t always what they seem. While a first-degree burn is mild, it is still an injury. It’s also possible for a first-degree burn to greatly impact your life, and it might even turn into a worse injury if it gets infected.

If you have a first-degree burn, you might deserve compensation, and you can sue for a first-degree burn injury.

When Can You Sue for First-Degree Burns?

The criteria for a first-degree burn lawsuit to be valid are the same as those for any other personal injury. It doesn’t matter that the injury is medically mild.

First and foremost, you have to think the injury is someone else’s fault, obviously. You can’t sue an oven manufacturer because you burned yourself on your oven while you were taking cookies out of it.

Beyond that, there are some legally required obligations you have to meet.

Establish that the person you want to sue had a duty of care. Duty of care is the legal way of saying they were responsible for providing you with a safe environment or product. For example, when you go into a business, they are responsible for not having unmarked slip hazards all over the place that can make you fall. If you do fall, they failed their duty of care.

That leads to the next requirement. You have to prove that the duty of care was neglected or that someone intentionally did something wrong to cause the injury.

Intentional wrongdoing is a lot easier to prove. We can’t think of any way you could get burned by someone intentionally without it being a malicious attack or dumb prank, and you 100% deserve compensation.

Neglect is a little harder to prove. With the slip and fall example from earlier, simply falling isn’t a sign of neglect. People frequently fall intentionally on spills to create a fraudulent lawsuit. You’d have to prove that there were no signs and the mess wasn’t being taken care of properly. The same is true for a first-degree burn. You have to prove that they neglected to do something, and that’s why you got the burn. Not your own negligence or intentional attempt to get burned.

Finally, it has to result in damage of some kind. A common type of damage would include your medical bills, or if you had to miss work because of it, you could potentially sue for lost wages, too. Maybe your work relies on your appearance, and the burn cost you a major opportunity. That would be damage, too.  Damage is necessary because it puts a monetary value on the harm caused by the burn. The court won’t be able to reward money that isn’t backed by a type of definable loss.

If you can do all that, you might have a lawsuit to file.

Negligence is More Complicated in Court

Whenever a lawsuit happens, both sides tend to paint the other side as being 100% to blame. However, the court doesn’t always agree with either of them.

Most often, blame is spread among both parties. The real answer the court wants to know is how much blame does either party get?

The party that is most to blame for the incident will usually have the worst result, but if they can prove that they’re not entirely to blame, it might minimize the financial damage they face. That’s something to consider regardless of which side of the case you’re on.

Starting a First-Degree Burn Lawsuit

Starting a lawsuit of any kind is harder than you’d think. You don’t just get injured and go to court to file a lawsuit.

Not only do you have to make sure your case meets the requirements we listed earlier, but you also have to start taking a few steps to ensure that you have a winnable case you can argue in court.

First, you’ll want to speak to a lawyer immediately after the incident unless you’re in the hospital and all communication about the incident is obviously delayed.

A lawyer will help you avoid the common mistakes that cause people to lose their valid personal injury claims.

That includes warning you against minimizing the injury, accepting blame out of sympathy or nervousness, declining medical aid, or providing too much unnecessary information to the other party.

A lawyer is also going to help you make the right decisions in terms of what medical care to receive immediately, preserving certain types of evidence, or contacting law enforcement if it’s appropriate.

Beyond the initial steps, a lawyer who decides to take on your case will also handle filing the lawsuit, fulfilling court obligations, gathering evidence you don’t have access to, and guiding you to complete the right types of medical treatments.

All of those things build your argument in court and make it much more likely that you’ll succeed.

Getting a lawyer immediately also helps you determine if you have a case in the first place. The lawyer will go over the facts and use their professional judgment to determine if the other party really is to blame or if you did something that nullifies your claim. That can save you lots of time and headaches, whether it’s a good answer or a less desirable one.

Finding the Right Lawyer to Help with Your First-Degree Burn Lawsuit

A lawyer can help, but you need a good lawyer to win.

If you’ve suffered first-degree burns due to someone else’s negligence, you need a personal injury lawyer. Personal injury lawyers handle all kinds of negligence-related injury lawsuits.

You also want a lawyer who is experienced, has a proven track record for winning trials and settlements, and treats clients with the compassion and respect they deserve. If you’re in Florida, that’s Loutos Law. 

Contact us today for a consultation about your first-degree burn case.