Claims for Burns

Burns can not only be extremely painful and uncomfortable, but they can be highly annoying because it can be difficult to alleviate the pain and discomfort. As well as being in discomfort for who knows how long, dependant on the severity of the burn, you could end up with some form of scarring.

So it comes as no surprise when our expert team of advisors get calls from victims of burn injuries all the time wanting to know whether they have a good claim for compensation or not. Given the potential serious nature of burn injuries, you need advice from an expert firm of personal injury specialist; so feel free to give us a call.

Whether you have been burned by a flame, scolded by hot water, burned by high temperature steam, or ended up in contact with a harmful chemical substance, once you have received your medical attention as quickly as possible, we will see if we can help you out. For now, here is a quick guide to give you a little bit of an insight in to claiming for burn injuries:

Burn Claims Advice

There are two parts to a claim for compensation; General Damages and Special Damages. General Damages covers the pain and suffering related to the injury itself. In burns cases, we are not just talking about the actual pain caused by the injury, but we are talking about the fact that you may have to endure with scarring for a period of time, or even forever. Burns never look nice; that’s a common fact. Having one in a prominent place such as your head, arms, or legs is a factor that we take seriously and will take in to account for when it comes to valuing your claim.

When you see the specialist medical expert we instruct for you, they will discuss the effect the scarring has, or is having, on you physically and mentally. Your payout will reflect the severity of the scarring and whether it’s been a particular issue for you. We are all different – so some people may not even be concerned; perhaps the young macho mid 20 male who classes it as a battle scar. But the young teen female will probably have an entirely different view of scarring in such a prominent place. We take this in to consideration.

If you are scarred for life, your payout will take in to account that you will have to live for the rest of your life with a probably unattractive scar. We have had teachers who have been worried about what their pupils will think of them, we have had young professionals worried about what their clients will think of them, and we have had models whose careers have been jeopardised by a scarring injury. This will not only be reflected in the General Damages part, but may also cross over in to your Special Damages part.

As I said before, the claim is in two parts. The second part, Special Damages, is designed to ensure that you are not at any financial loss that is a direct result of your accident. If you are / were a model, and God forbid your career has been jeopardised by a negligent burn injury, then you will be at a serious disadvantage on the open labour market, particularly when it comes to the industry you work in. If you were to go on to be paid handsome sums of money every year for being on the cover of Vogue, but your burn injury has prevented this, you could seek to claim back an entire life’s worth of lost future earnings.

That is just one (albeit, rather extreme) example of how it can work. But the point I’m trying to get across is that you don’t have to be in physical pain to make a claim; if it’s scarring that’s your concern, you are more than entitled to claim for this.

Do You Have a Claim?

There are too many ways you could end up with a burn injury that it’s not really possible to list all the eventualities and advise you as to whether you have a claim or not. So the best thing to do is give us a call on 0800 634 75 75. But the gist is that the injury has to have been caused through no fault of your own, and through the negligence of another person or company.

If you have received a chemical burn at work because you were not provided with the right personal protective equipment, or not enough preventative measures were in place, you could make a claim. If a colleague spilt something on you, your employers are still liable to compensate you. If you are burned by a defective product, for example, you can make a claim against the seller of the product of the manufacturer.

What you need to do is get the medical help you need without delay, and then instruct a specialist firm of personal injury lawyers to deal with your claim. This means you will receive 100% compensation if you win as all fees are recovered from your opponent, and are limited to whatever is recovered in writing. If the case doesn’t win, you pay nothing.

So, win or lose – you pay nothing whatsoever!

If you need some advice as to whether you could make a claim for your burn injury, give us a call and we will see how we can help you out.