Burn Injuries – Madison Law Firm helps identify who’s at fault

If you suffer a burn injury, the damage can last a long time. Severe burns can affect several layers of your skin, leaving both visible and invisible scars that impact you well beyond the time of your medical care. Depending on how your burn injuries occur, you have different potential defendants who can be liable for your burn injuries; Madison law firm ELO can help you identify fault in your claim for damages.

Who Had a Duty?
When you sue for negligence, you must demonstrate that someone had a duty of care, and that they failed to meet it. If your burn injuries come from a faulty product, that can include several people along the chain of distribution:

• the product manufacturer, if the product is inherently dangerous;
• the distributor, if it failed to include instructions for proper use;
• the retailer, if a safety recall was issued but it sold the product anyway.

In accidents, you may also suffer injuries due to something that occurs on the property that the owner should have prevented. You must determine who was in a position to prevent your burn injuries to find the liable parties.

Causation

You also must show that a breach of duty actually caused your burn injuries. If you are using a hammer and the head flies off, you may have trouble showing that this caused you to burn yourself. On the other hand, an electrical short that burns you directly gives a clearer argument for causation.

Comparative Negligence

Wisconsin’s comparative negligence law does not prevent you from recovering damages if you were partly responsible. However, you cannot be more than 50% responsible; if your own reckless behavior is the primary reason for your injuries, the court will not hold others liable. Further, you recover damages proportional to fault; if you are found 30% responsible for your own burn injuries, and the verdict for those injuries is for $100,000 of damages, you will recover $70,000.

It can be complicated to identify the party responsible for your burn injuries; Madison law firm Eisenberg Law Offices has the experience and expertise to help.