Illinois Burn Cases
by Michael Helfand
(Illinois)
Burn injuries can result from a variety of circumstances – defective products, failure to properly install a smoke detector, car accidents. Whatever the circumstances, the long-term effects can be devastating – from physical rehabilitation and disfigurement to psychological and emotional harm.
If you or a loved one has been the victim of a burn injury, you may be entitled to compensation for your injury. This includes compensation for medical bills, future medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering.
It is strongly recommended that you hire an attorney with experience trying burn cases. Your experienced burn injury attorney will carefully listen to the facts of your case and advise you on who may be responsible.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Understand who you are going after and why. Ask about reasonable expectations and make sure your attorney understands your goals. Together, you will develop a plan to seek recovery for your injuries.
Depending on the facts of your case, if your burn was the result of negligence, your lawyer will have to show that the defendant breached a duty owed to you by failing to act like a reasonably prudent person when the accident occurred (for example, changing batteries in a smoke detector twice per year) and that you suffered injuries.
If your burn was the result of a faulty product, your lawyer will have to show that the product was “in an unreasonably dangerous condition” when it left the manufacturer and was placed into the stream of commerce and that it caused your injuries.
Your lawyer will need evidence to assist in building your case. It is crucial that you maintain all medical records, insurance records, names and contact information of all witnesses and numerous photos – not only of your injury but where it occurred.
Maintain plenty of before and after shots. You should, of course, focus first on your health and recovery but keep in mind that it can only help you to prove your case if you have the proper documentation, photos and other evidence.
Note that in Illinois, a report of your burn injury should have been provided to the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
This is because Illinois has the Burn Injury Reporting Act, which requires an immediate oral report and later a written report be filed of every burn injury.
If you are concerned about the cost of hiring an attorney, note that personal injury attorneys work on a contingency basis.
This means that if you recover a settlement from a defendant or, perhaps more likely, the defendant’s insurance company, or if you recover a jury award, your attorney will take a percentage of that recovery. However, if you do not recover anything, then you are not required to pay anything.
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Michael Helfand has been an Illinois attorney since 1997 and is founder of FindGreatLawyers.com, the leading resource for Illinois lawyer referrals and legal guidance.
