Burn Injuries: Workman's Comp vs. Personal Injury

If you have suffered a burn injury, you may wonder if you can file a lawsuit against whomever you believe is responsible for that injury. Whether or not you can recover damages from a burn injury depends in large part on where and how the injury occurred and on who is actually responsible.

A Burn Injury at Work

If you have suffered a burn injury arising from or caused by your job duties, then you can generally recover your damages under an administrative program called worker's compensation. Worker's compensation is a system that has been created by the legislatures throughout the United States in order to ensure that a worker who becomes injured or disabled does not become a burden on society. Employers must buy insurance for worker's, and worker's who are injured are able to recover damages and payment for disability from the worker's comp insurance company.

There are several important things to know about recovering damages for a burn injury under worker's comp:

If you were injured at work and want to collect from your employer, you have to use worker's comp to recover. You cannot sue
Your employer doesn't need to have been negligent to be liable for damages. As long as it happened either at work or because of work, while doing work, (and as long as you weren't drunk or directly going against company policy) then you can recover from worker's comp
Your damages under worker's compensation are dictated by state law, and are judged either based on the level of your injuries (if the state uses something called an impairment rating) or based on what your specific injury is (if the state uses a list of impairments)

A Burn Injury Outside of Work

If you suffer a burn unrelated to work, you can recover against the person who caused that injury only if they were negligent in some way or if they burned you intentionally. You can use the personal injury tort system to recover, which means you must prove:

The person who burned you acted either intentionally or was not as careful as a reasonable person would have been, and thus can be considered negligent under the law
The negligent or intentional actions proximately or directly caused the burns.

If you recover under personal injury, you may be able to recover damages for lost wages, medical bills, pain and suffering, emotional distress and other related damages.

Getting Help

If you have suffered a burn injury, you need to consult with an experienced attorney. Your attorney can provide you with some specific details about the nature of your case and about who you may be able to recover from for your injury and how. He can also assist you in taking any steps necessary to collect your damages from the appropriate source.

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