Burn Injury Lawyer in Los Angeles

Who is liable for a burn injury in California?

Liability in these cases usually points somewhere other than a driver. Depending on the facts, it can reach:

• A landlord who ignored faulty wiring or a defective heater.
• A restaurant, business or site with no extinguisher within reach or no working fire safety equipment.
• A manufacturer whose product ignited, such as a machine with no guard or safety valve.
• A utility, for a line that was not de-energized or a gas line that leaked.
• A contractor or the general contractor who controlled the site, or a company that did the maintenance.
• A chemical supplier whose product had no legible warning label.

Under Government Code section 835, a public entity can also be liable for a dangerous condition of public property. California applies pure comparative fault, so a share of blame reduces a recovery rather than ending it.

Can you bring a claim if you were burned at work?

Many serious burns happen on the job: oil at 190 degrees in a kitchen, steam from industrial equipment, a cable no one de-energized, a gas line at a construction site, a spilled chemical. Workers’ compensation covers treatment and part of your wages, and as a rule it does not allow you to sue your employer. That is where most people stop, and where money is left behind.

California law does not close the door to third parties. You can pursue the maker of the machine, the building owner, the general contractor, the maintenance company or the chemical supplier. That claim is independent of the workers’ compensation claim and runs at the same time. Immigration status does not remove the right to claim, in compensation or in a civil case, and Labor Code section 132a bars an employer from punishing you for filing.

What compensation can you recover after a burn injury?

• Medical expenses, past and future: burn unit care, grafts, compression garments, therapy to keep contracture from locking a hand or neck, surgical releases and scar revisions.
• Lost earnings and loss of future earning capacity.
• Pain, suffering and emotional distress, including disfigurement and scarring.
• Punitive damages under Civil Code section 3294 where a defendant acted with malice, oppression or fraud.
• Wrongful death damages under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 if a burn proves fatal.

A burn claim should not close before the skin has finished healing. A serious burn is treated over years, not months, and the appearance of a scar at twelve months is not its appearance at three years. An offer made at four months was calculated with four months of information and is signed forever. If the injured person is a child, each stage of growth can call for another surgery.

If you have no health insurance, treatment can still be arranged: workers’ compensation when it happened at work, Medi-Cal, or doctors who treat on a lien and are paid when the case closes.

How long do you have to file a burn injury claim in California?

• Two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit, under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.
• Three years for property damage, under Code of Civil Procedure section 338.
• Six months to present a written claim where a public entity is involved, under Government Code section 911.2. This shorter deadline governs.

Under Los Angeles Superior Court Local Rule 2.3(a)(1)(A), a case is filed in the judicial district where the incident arose, which the Court’s filing locator identifies. Other facts can shorten or extend these periods, so have your date confirmed at the start.

How much does a burn injury lawyer cost?

No fee unless there is a recovery. Broukhim Legal PC takes these cases on a contingency fee, so there is nothing to pay up front and the fee is paid out of what is recovered. If nothing is recovered, no fee is owed. The fee agreement is put in writing and signed before any work starts, as California law requires (Business and Professions Code section 6147), and the costs of running the case are explained in that same agreement rather than left to the end. Your first conversation is free, confidential and carries no obligation.

Personal injury lawyers across Los Angeles County

Broukhim Legal PC represents injured people throughout Los Angeles County from its office at 550 S Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles. Each city page covers the courthouse an incident in that city is filed in, how a claim against that city is presented and the deadlines that apply:

See all locations we serve, or tell us what happened for a free case review.

Meet your Los Angeles burn injury lawyer

Bejan Broukhim, Founder and Lead Attorney
State Bar of California, license number 183036

Bejan Broukhim brings years of California legal experience to injury and mass tort cases and personally reviews each one. He earned his J.D. at the University of West Los Angeles School of Law, served as a judicial extern in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the Van Nuys Superior Court, and appeared in preliminary hearings as a certified law clerk with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Every case is prepared from day one as though it will go to trial.

Office: 550 S Hill Street, Suite 1390, Los Angeles, CA 90013, serving all of Los Angeles County and California. Get directions