Do I Need a Burn Injury Lawyer?

This video features Brian Davis, a Personal Injury attorney based in North Carolina.

North Carolina Attorney on Pain and Trauma Recovery

Video Transcript:

Brian Davis:

The only time we ever charge a fee is if we actually end up making a successful recovery on behalf of the client or the client’s loved one.

Rob Rosenthal:

If you're badly burned because of someone else's negligence, do you know how to get help? Well, that's what we're going to find out today, because that's what we're going to ask the lawyer.

Hi again, everybody, I'm Rob Rosenthal with askthelawyers.com, and my guest is North Carolina attorney Brian Davis. Brian, good to see you again. Thanks for helping us out.

Brian Davis:

Hey, Rob, nice to see. Thank you.

Rob Rosenthal:

So let's just start with, what are some of the more common burn injuries you've seen at your practice?

Brian Davis:

Well, I've seen a host of burn injuries. We see everything from people being burned in house fires to being burned from electrical appliances, electrocution type things on the job, just really the whole gamut.

Rob Rosenthal:

And I know that's a wide area and all those things probably have different approaches, but let's just talk in generalities. How does a burn victim differ from your ordinary personal injury cases?
Brian Davis:

Well, for starters, burn injuries are probably, in my opinion, some of the most painful injuries that a client can experience. They're just incredibly painful, and a lot of times the clients that we've represented have actually ended up in burn centers; we have several here in North Carolina. They actually end up being placed into a medically induced coma for a period of time, they are so painful. So that's the biggest thing, in my opinion, that sets them apart from a lot of other serious injury cases.

Rob Rosenthal:

What about the treatments? You’re talking about being in a burn center. I’ve got to imagine that it's expensive and time consuming.

Brian Davis:

The treatments are horrible. It puts shivers on my arms when I think about it, because a lot of these folks who are in the burn center end up having to have debriding, where they actually have to remove the skin that has died, and then they end up having to have skin grafts from other parts of their body where they take skin maybe from a hip or a leg and they move it onto the chest or an arm or the face, just very traumatic.

Rob Rosenthal:

And that trauma, I would imagine, can be long-lasting, even after you say, “Okay, they're healed. They’re out of the hospital.” I imagine some of the trauma from that may be lifelong.

Brian Davis:

Yeah, in most instances it is life-long, and the folks that I've worked with have had a lot of emotional scars that obviously are really much deeper than the physical scars, though those are terrible too. The clients I’ve worked with have all needed and sought, thankfully, psychological help, and that's sort of the PTSD type trauma therapy is essential.

Rob Rosenthal:

So I'd imagine when it comes time to figuring out what sort of damages, monetary damages, you need an attorney who has experience in that, so they know to look, because there are things that will be 10, 20, 30 years down the road that they may still be in need of support for, right?

Brian Davis:

That's exactly right. We almost always have what's called a Life Care Planner expert in these cases, and that's someone who has expertise in figuring out what those life-long medical needs and costs are going to be.

Rob Rosenthal:

You had mentioned some of the different types; you mentioned electrocution on the job. Would that purely be workers’ comp or maybe there's third party? How do you handle that? How is that different?

Brian Davis:

Well, every case stands on its own legs. You've got to look at all angles of the case; if it's an employer-only sort of situation, then it's a workers’ comp case, but more often than not, in my experience, there's usually a third party that also has liability in these burn-type electrocution injury cases.

Rob Rosenthal:

So that's why it's important to talk to someone like yourself to find out if there is what you call a third party case, right?

Brian Davis:

Yeah, because a lot of times, you know the damages in a workers’ comp cases are limited generally to medical expenses and lost wages. You don't get any pain and suffering type damages in a workers’ comp case, so it's critically important to find out who else is responsible or who else may be responsible and seek those pain and suffering type damages, those emotional injury damages from the third party.

Rob Rosenthal:

Obviously, in burn cases, like we said, it can sometimes be very, very serious. Sometimes it can result in death. How does that happen? Can survivors still seek damages on behalf of the person? How does that work, Brian?

Brian Davis:

Yeah, absolutely. If a loved one has perished in a fire or an electrocution type situation, then it really falls to the next of kin, the family members, to pursue those damages on behalf of the person who died as a result of the injuries. So yeah, we represent survivors a lot in these cases; we've got three right now that I can think of in our caseload, where family members have come to us after a fire—and we got one election electrocution case right now—and we're working with those family members to investigate and pursue those cases.

Rob Rosenthal:

If someone is not sure that they have a case, Brian, can they still come to you? And is there a fee to find out if they even have a case?

Brian Davis:

You know, it's funny you say that because most people who come to us go, “I don't even know if I have a case. I don't know if it is a case.” And then we investigate the case and figure out who's really sort of behind what happened, which is not always apparent on the front end, and then we end up having what turns out to be a really great case. So to answer your question, there's no fee to investigate a case. We don't charge consultation fees or upfront fees; the only time we ever charge a fee is if we actually end up making a successful recovery on behalf of the client or the client’s loved one.

Rob Rosenthal:

When we've talked to you about other types of injuries like trucking injuries, that sort of thing, you stress the importance of getting an attorney involved as early in the process as possible. I would assume that also applies here, especially if it's a defective product or something like that?

Brian Davis:

Yeah, or an electrocution. Yeah, very, very important. And also, in the burn situation whatever it is, the forensic evidence is critically important. By forensic I mean whatever still exists; we need to preserve it, because if you don't preserve it, you may lose the ability to prove why it happened and who's responsible, and those are the two things that you've definitely got to be able to do in these cases.

Rob Rosenthal:

All really interesting information, Brian. As always, thank you for answering our questions today.

Brian Davis:

Glad to. Thanks for having me.

Rob Rosenthal:

That's going to do it for this episode of Ask the Lawyer. My guest has been North Carolina attorney Brian Davis. Remember, if you want the best information and you want to be able to choose a lawyer that lawyers choose, be sure to go to askthelawyers.com. Thanks for watching, everybody. I'm Rob Rosenthal with AskTheLawyers™.

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