Irvine Burn Injury Lawyer

Experienced Burn Injury Attorney in Irvine, CA

Suffering a severe burn can disrupt your life completely, leaving you unable to work and facing a lengthy recovery. If you’ve been burned during an accident, an Irvine burn injury lawyer can help you recover compensation that can help you make up for the loss of income you’ve suffered and the disruption caused to you and your family’s lives.

Trust Easton & Easton

Easton & Easton is a high-settlement firm familiar with handling complex personal injury cases, including severe burns. Our proven process for helping clients gets real results.

One in three of the settlements we’ve obtained for clients is worth $100,000 or more, and we’re experienced in both negotiating with insurance companies and taking challenging cases to court. However, past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different and must be evaluated on its own merits.

Why Hire a Burn Injury Lawyer?

According to the American Burn Association, there were 398,000 reports of fire- or burn-related injuries in 2021, and 252,000 injuries related to touching hot objects or surfaces. In 2024, 60% of the burn injuries in California were caused by fires or flames. Another 11% were scalding injuries, and 5% were caused by touching hot objects. Because third-degree thermal traumas fall under standard civil tort rules, victims can file a burn injury lawsuit to hold negligent parties accountable. No matter how you were burned, if it was due to another person’s negligence or intentional act, you can hire a burn injury lawyer to help.

Your attorney can:

• File your paperwork correctly and on time.
• Help you understand burn injury laws.
• Determine liability for your accident.
• Gather evidence to support your claim.
• Negotiate a fair settlement with the liable party’s insurance company.
• Litigate your case in court, should the insurer be unwilling to offer just compensation.

An Irvine burn injury attorney can assist you with all aspects of filing your claim. Working with a law firm like Easton & Easton that has a strategic process in place for obtaining fair settlements in high-value cases is the most effective way to improve your chances of getting a full recovery.

Understanding the Categorization of Burns

How much compensation you’re likely to receive for your burn injury depends on the severity of your burns. More extensive injuries typically need prolonged treatment and lead to greater losses. Burns can be categorized as:

• First-degree. These relatively minor burns involve only the outer layer of skin and typically cause redness and some pain.
• Second-degree. These burns affect deeper layers of the skin and can result in blisters and more intense pain.
• Third-degree. These more serious burns penetrate the skin completely and may destroy some underlying tissue.
• Fourth-degree burns. These severe burns cause damage to muscles, tendons, or bones.

While first-degree burns typically heal on their own with no to minimal medical intervention, third- and fourth-degree burns may require surgery, extensive physical therapy, and ongoing care. When a severe thermal injury results in permanent nerve damage or scarring, it may be legally evaluated alongside an Irvine catastrophic injury lawyer to account for long-term disability needs. They tend to garner higher settlement awards as a result.

The Legal Basis for Burn Injury Claims

Most burn injury claims in Irvine are founded on the legal theory of negligence. Proving negligence requires you to show that four elements were present:

1. Duty of care. The duty of care owed to you by the defendant may vary depending on the circumstances surrounding your accident. Drivers of motor vehicles owe a duty of care to exercise caution while on the road, and property owners must keep their land and buildings free from foreseeable risks, including burn risks.
2. Breach of duty. The defendant’s inaction, or sometimes their intentional acts, must have led to a failure to meet the standard of care required in the situation that caused your accident.
3. Causation. There must be a direct and foreseeable connection between the defendant’s breach of duty and your burn injuries.
4. Damages. You must have suffered measurable harm as a result of being burned. Damages can include both economic and non-economic harms you’ve suffered.

While most burn cases are founded on negligence, some fall under California’s strict liability standard. This may be the case if you were burned by a defective product. In strict liability cases, you don’t have to prove negligence. You should have an actionable claim if the product was defective and it caused your burn.

California’s Pure Comparative Negligence Laws

Burn victims can still recover compensation even if they were substantially at fault for the accidents that caused their injuries. You could be 99% at fault and still hold the other responsible party liable for 1% of your damages. However, your final settlement amount could be significantly lower as a result of this shared liability.

The courts reduce settlements commensurate with the percentage of fault assigned to accident victims. If you were going to be entitled to a $500,000 settlement but you were found to be 50% at fault, you’d receive only $250,000 in the end.

Burn Injuries Occurring in Workplaces

Burn injuries that occur in workplaces while victims are on the job are usually handled by workers’ compensation, but there are some exceptions:

• Third-party negligence. If you can show that a third party’s negligence caused your burn, you can hold that person or company liable. One common example is manufacturers of defective products used in the workplace.
• Egregious employer negligence. If your injury was caused by egregious negligence on the part of your employer, you may be entitled to file a civil claim against them. This can allow you to access a broader range of damages than what is available under workers’ compensation.
• Intentional injuries. If your employer intentionally caused your burn, you can file a civil claim.

An Irvine burn injury attorney can assist you with all aspects of filing your claim. Working with our experienced legal team at Easton & Easton that has a strategic process in place for obtaining fair settlements in high-value cases is the most effective way to improve your chances of getting a full recovery.

If you’re not sure whether you have an actionable burn injury claim, you should contact our office to schedule a consultation regarding the particulars of your case right away. You only have two years to file a claim under California’s statute of limitations for personal injuries.

For additional guidance on workplace injury payouts under state law, review our detailed analysis on examples of skin burn at work claims payouts in California.

Evidence to Support Burn Injury Cases

The success of your burn injury claim could depend on your attorney’s ability to collect effective evidence to support your case. Evidence can include things like:

• Medical records from UCI Health – Irvine or another local hospital
• Photographs or videos of the accident scene and the injury
• Statements from eyewitnesses who observed the incident
• Testimony from medical professionals regarding the severity of your injuries
• Testimony from fire investigators or engineers that can link your injuries to a provable breach of duty on the part of the defendant

Some of this evidence you can gather yourself. Other types of evidence must be obtained by your attorney during the discovery process.

Damages Available for Burn Injuries

There are two to three categories of damages available to burn victims following accidents or intentional injuries. You may be entitled to:

• Economic damages. These address calculable financial losses, such as medical expenses, rehabilitation, lost income, and diminished future earning capacity.
• Non-economic damages. These address more subjective forms of harm, such as scarring and disfigurement, pain and suffering, and emotional distress.
• Punitive damages. These are only available in cases where the defendant acted intentionally and engaged in fraudulent or malicious acts.

Your lawyer can help you identify 100% of the damages to which you are entitled.

FAQs

Q: How Much Compensation Can You Get for a Burn Injury?

A: How much compensation you can get for a burn injury depends on the severity of your burns and whether they are expected to leave you with lasting disability or disfigurement. Your attorney’s experience and skill in negotiating with insurance companies can also play a role in determining how much money you receive in your settlement.

Q: Does a Burn Count as an Injury?

A: A burn counts as an injury. Burns, like many types of injuries, range in severity from minor surface damage to severe trauma. Third-degree burns can impact not just the skin but the underlying fat, muscle, and bone. If you’ve suffered a serious burn, you may need substantial medical intervention and could be left permanently disfigured.

Q: What Is the Average Bodily Injury Settlement in California?

A: There is no such thing as an average bodily injury settlement in California. Every case is different, so settlements vary significantly, as well. Your final settlement amount could depend on factors such as the severity of your injuries, your level of liability, and how skilled your attorney is at negotiating fair settlement deals.

Q: Can I File a Civil Claim if I Get Burned at Work?

A: Whether you can file a civil claim if you get burned at work depends on the circumstances surrounding your accident. In most cases, workers’ compensation insurance covers injured employees’ medical bills and a portion of their lost wages. However, if your burn was caused by a third party, such as a negligent contractor or the manufacturer of a faulty machine, you may be able to file a claim. The same is true for accidents caused by egregious employer misconduct.

Your Irvine Burn Injury Lawyer

If you’re seeking a skilled Irvine burn injury lawyer to help with your case, turn to Easton & Easton. We protect professionals and their families when serious injuries disrupt their careers. We can help you recover compensation in even a complex personal injury case, and our team is ready to litigate it to get you the compensation you deserve.

We’ve recovered over $2 billion for our clients. However, past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different and must be evaluated on its own merits. We can help you too. Contact us today to schedule an initial consultation.

Irvine, CA Burn Injury Legal Resources

• Orange County Fire Authority – Incident & Fire Investigation Reports
• UCI Health – Regional Burn Center & Emergency Services
• Superior Court of California, County of Orange – Civil Litigation Filing (Central Justice Center)
• California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) – Workplace Injury Reporting

About Irvine, CA

Home to the expansive Orange County Great Park, Irvine offers world-class community amenities and protected open space. However, traffic density and industrial operations still result in severe accidents, with state emergency data recording over 252,000 thermal and surface burn injuries annually across California. Local agencies like the Orange County Fire Authority continuously enhance emergency response protocols to keep residents safe. Irvine remains one of the safest, most resilient communities in Orange County.