Proving Legal Liability in Burn Injury Cases Requires Experienced Legal Counsel In burn injury lawsuits, judges and juries tend to be sympathetic to victims. But defense attorneys use several tactics to fight back. Few injuries cause as much physical and emotional devastation as burns to the face and body. When those burns are due to the fault of others, the victim should be compensated for both economic and non-economic costs.
A personal injury attorney who specializes in burn injuries can explain to the victim and his or her family how much compensation that can amount to. In addition to all medical and health related costs (emergency care, long-term care, follow-up surgeries, medications, therapy, adaptations of the home or vehicles to accommodate disabilities), the pain and emotional suffering, as well as the interruption of a career and lost wages, all incur significant expense.
Burn injuries caused by the negligence of another party should not create such a financial burden on the victim. In a burn injury lawsuit, the cause-and-effect explanation of the injury plays a critical role.
But defense attorneys will attempt to undermine the victim’s case in a number of ways:
Challenge your burn injury expert witness – Burn injury plaintiffs have one or several experts testify as to how the accident happened, what its effects on the victim were and what the long-term prognosis is for recovery. The defense will attempt to undermine the credibility or knowledge of that witness.
Suggest that the injury was due to your own negligence – While juries tend to be sympathetic to burn injury victims, the defense attorney may look for opportunities to show the victim, or a third party, was instead responsible for the injury.
Unguarded social media discussion – Lawyers for the defense are allowed to view publicly available information on the plaintiff if they do not violate certain “no contact rules” in the process.
This means if the victim/plaintiff voluntarily shares photos, videos or other content on the Internet, it might undermine claims of injury or psychological stress, which can be used against that person in trial. Because of these and other factors, the victim should engage an experienced burn injury lawyer.
Attorneys with experience in burn injuries will choose qualified expert witnesses, construct a strong case strategy and will guide the victim-plaintiff to eliminate extraneous factors (such as Internet postings) that have the potential to undermine their litigation.
