Tampa Burn Injury Lawyer | Expert Legal Representation for Burn Victims

Tampa burn injury lawyers know just how serious the impact of a burn can be. Victims may face long-term health issues, disfigurement, and other losses that affect daily life, preventing them from supporting themselves or doing beloved activities. 

Burn injuries are not rare. Nationally, the numbers are staggering, with more than 450,000 people requiring hospitalization annually. In Tampa, nestled in the heart of Hillsborough County, with attractions for both tourists and residents alike, the ways you can sustain a burn are endless. 

If you have suffered burn injuries because of another party’s misconduct, you may be saddled with medical bills but unable to return to work. At Jack Bernstein, Injury Attorneys, our team of Tampa burn injury attorneys understands how the claims process works in the city. That’s why we provide free consultations and work solely on contingency. If we don’t win, we don’t get paid.

Whether receiving care from Tampa General Hospital (TGH) Burn Center or elsewhere in the area, you can count on us to help you recover your losses after severe burn injuries.

Why Choose Jack Bernstein, Injury Attorneys, for Your Tampa Burn Injury Case? 

Our leading burn injury lawyer in Tampa, Jack Bernstein, has more than 40 years of experience helping people who have suffered because of others’ negligence. With a staff of six lawyers and over 40 employees, our firm can take on even the most challenging of cases. 

We’re known as a law firm that obtains significant settlements and jury awards for cases involving catastrophic injuries. Recently, our experienced attorneys helped a client receive $1.75 million for an accident that resulted in a severe burn. We also assisted a client in obtaining $100,000 after burns from a motorcycle accident. 

Our Tampa burn injury attorneys are conveniently located near the TGH Burn Center, making it easy for our legal team to speak with clients in person if they’re receiving care. Keep in mind, we offer free initial consultations and work on contingency. 

Additionally, our team not only assists with legal matters, but we are also involved in local charities and organizations. Our lawyers are members of numerous associations, including the Cuban-American Bar Association and the Florida Bar Association. 

So, why should you choose our legal team? 

We offer:

• A proven track record with million-dollar settlements.
• Extensive burn injury experience.
• A comprehensive legal team.
• No upfront fees.
• Local Tampa knowledge and expertise.

When you hire us, you gain a compassionate advocate with a proven record of success. 

Burn Injuries and Their Devastating Impact 

Burn injuries are among the most severely painful injuries you can sustain. These traumatic wounds can impact many body tissues, including skin, fat, and even bone. These injuries are so painful because they expose nerve endings.

A burn victim can experience inflammation as the body’s immune system reacts to the injury. This can further stimulate pain receptors in the area, leading to more pain.

Severe burn injuries also increase your chance of developing infections, making them more complex to treat. That is why hospitalization is typically required in moderate to severe cases. 

Burn injuries in Tampa are common. The TGH Burn Center treats more than 500 adult burn patients and 300 pediatric burn patients yearly. With burns affecting 10% or less of the total body surface, there’s a 94.4% survival rate, although that rate diminishes as more of the body is affected. However, even when burns aren’t fatal, there could be lifelong complications, like scarring, pain, and organ damage. 

After a Tampa burn injury, you will likely need medical assistance. Serious burn injuries could require skin grafts, which have a risk of scarring. You may also need intensive care treatment and rehabilitation therapy to restore the function of the impacted limbs. Hospital stays can be significant, ranging from one to 47 days. 

There may be psychological impacts on the burn victim as well. Disfigurement or other lasting injuries can cause depression and other concerns that lower your quality of life. These effects can prevent you from working, creating dependence on loved ones for daily tasks. 

Types and Degrees of Burn Injuries

Here is a closer look at the types and degrees of burn injuries.

First-Degree Burns

First-degree burns are injuries that affect only the outer layer of skin. They are not severe and can feel like a mild sunburn. If you sustained a first-degree burn because of another party’s conduct, like if a product malfunctions, overheats and burns the outer layer of your skin, you may be entitled to compensation. 

Second-Degree Burns

Second-degree burns, which are also called partial thickness burns, affect both the top layer of skin and the deeper ones, or dermis. These injuries cause blisters, making scarring more likely. Because second-degree burns affect many layers of skin, they frequently cause infections. 

There are differences in the second-degree burns you can suffer. Minor ones impact a small amount of skin, while major ones can involve large areas. To treat these injuries, doctors often use skin grafts. 

Third-Degree Burns

Third-degree burns are called full-thickness burns because they affect all of the skin layers. These severe burns can cause nerve damage, loss of sensation, and permanent scarring. Such injuries can result in serious complications, like organ damage and infections. Treating them generally requires hospitalization, skin grafting, and other reconstructive surgery. 

Fourth-Degree Burns

Fourth-degree burns are the most serious form. They are life-threatening injuries that cause severe pain, impacting skin, muscles, and bones. The mortality rate for these injuries is high. 

To treat fourth-degree burns in Tampa, the most appropriate facility is the TGH Burn Center. Even with specialized help, you can face long-term health complications and could require the amputation of affected body parts. 

Common Causes of Tampa Burn Accidents

Both minor and severe burn injuries in Tampa occur for a variety of reasons. Burn accidents can happen as a result of auto accidents. In a city as large and populous as this one, car accidents are common and can lead to explosions and surface burns. 

By far, however, residential cooking fires are the most significant cause of burns in the city. Although there aren’t full statistics on the exact number of these fires that occur every year, residential cooking incidents are frequently listed among the top five causes of fires. 

In some instances, you may be able to begin a burn injury case in Tampa as a result of cooking fires.

Motor Vehicle Accidents and Fires

In 2024, Hillsborough County experienced 26,264 collisions, causing 17,359 injuries. The majority of these happened in Tampa. Car accidents can lead vehicles to overheat, causing thermal burns. Auto accidents can also mean being exposed to large amounts of gasoline, which could catch fire. 

Perhaps even more likely to cause burns are truck accidents. These vehicles often carry flammable or corrosive substances that can result in all manner of burns. 

Workplace and Construction Accidents

Tampa has a bustling industrial section, including locations near the airport. The city has seen a boost in construction projects for both residential and commercial purposes, which means there is the potential for construction accidents, like structural fires to occur. Chemical burns can also occur if a worker has contact with corrosive substances, and electrical burns are possible if they’re near live wires. 

Other workplaces pose burn dangers, too. The fast food and restaurant industries see their share of serious burns every year. 

Residential and Structural Fires

Our Tampa burn victim attorneys work on numerous cases annually involving residential fires. These can occur because of cooking accidents, faulty wiring, and unguarded candles or smoking materials. These structural fires can be life-threatening, especially in apartment buildings. 

You can also sustain thermal burns. These occur if you touch a surface that is very hot, which could happen if an appliance overheats. 

The Legal Process for Tampa Burn Injury Claims 

If you’re looking to begin a burn injury claim in Tampa, it’s vital to understand the related Florida laws. The legal process involved in a personal injury lawsuit is a complex one that requires establishing that negligence occurred. To do so, you must show that the negligent party owed you a duty of care that they breached and that their conduct resulted in your burns. 

To prove all of these elements, you’ll want to gather a variety of evidence. The types of evidence needed in personal injury cases can vary depending on the nature of the accident. 

Medical testimony is vital, since it shows the extent of your injuries and how they will impact your life. You can also rely on expert witnesses, who can offer insight into their professional specialties. Accident scene investigations are essential, as are eyewitness testimonies.  

Florida personal injury laws explained fully require looking at whether you were partly responsible for your injuries. For example, if you sustained a burn injury in a car accident in which the negligent party was distracted but you braked abruptly, the state’s pure comparative negligence laws come into play. 

You can still recover losses even if you were 99% responsible for the accident. Your Tampa burn injury settlement will be reduced by your percentage of fault, however. 

Remember that you don’t have an unlimited time to file a personal injury lawsuit, either. In the majority of cases, the Florida personal injury statute of limitations gives you only two years to begin the claim, though there may be exceptions. 

One of the most challenging aspects of these claims is dealing with insurance companies. You will have to prove liability, which is not simple, and then negotiate with insurers for a fair settlement. 

This is one of the most important reasons why you need a burn injury attorney in Tampa. Without their help, you may accept a lower offer than you deserve. 

Compensation Available for Tampa Burn Injury Victims

Our Tampa, Florida, burn injury lawyers have helped clients to recover all types of compensation. 

Economic Damages

Getting treatment at a hospital or at a specialized facility, like the TGH Burn Center, can be costly. You may need to undergo skin grafting and plastic surgery, followed by physical therapy sessions. These medical bills can quickly add up. 

Economic damages cover all of your medical expenses, including your future care needs. They will also address lost income if you had to take time off from work to recover. 

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages compensate you for the physical and emotional distress you’ve experienced because of these extremely painful injuries, as well as for your loss of enjoyment of life. Calculating pain and suffering in injury claims requires considering how the injury impacts you and whether it prevents you from living as you’d like. 

Burn injuries often leave permanent scarring and issues with severe pain. These impact you physically and mentally, potentially resulting in problems, like depression, anxiety, and even post-traumatic stress disorder. To address these, you could need ongoing counseling.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages apply to burn injury cases, in which the defendant’s actions were malicious or grossly negligent. These damages are meant to punish the negligent party. 

For the most severe cases, the maximum possible compensation via punitive damages in Florida is three times the amount of economic and non-economic damages or $500,000. There may be instances when this cap can be lifted and raised up to two million. 

What To Do After a Tampa Burn Accident

Our Tampa burn injury law firm recommends taking immediate steps after your accident. 

These steps include:

• Seek immediate medical attention.
• If you remain on the scene, start documenting it.
• Take photos and preserve clothing and other evidence.
• Report the incident to local authorities.
• Contact our Tampa burn compensation attorneys.
• Keep conversations with insurance companies short.
• Don’t accept offers without consulting your lawyer.
• Keep detailed medical records.

If the burn accident causes severe injuries, consider going to the TGH Burn Center for specialized medical treatment. As soon as you can, reach out to our team for a free initial consultation. 

Tampa Burn Injury Settlement Amounts and Case Results 

You may be wondering, “How much compensation for a burn injury?” Burn injury settlements can vary significantly depending on: 

• The severity of the wound.
• The victim’s age.
• How the burn impacts their life.
• The person’s medical needs.
• How much income they’ll lose.
• The defendant’s negligence level.

We helped one client to recover $1,750,000 for an accident that resulted in a burn that caused complex regional pain syndrome. In a premises liability claim that led to a burn, we were able to obtain $300,000 for our client, and in another claim involving a spilled liquid that caused vaginal burns, we got our client $200,000. In one case involving a defective product, we obtained $83,000. 

However, what is the average settlement for a burn injury? Based on our own case results and experience, the average compensation amounts can be between $160,000 and $220,000. Florida doesn’t have caps on economic damages, so it’s possible to pursue as much compensation as you need. 

Florida Burn Injury Laws and Your Rights

Florida Statute § 95.11(3)(a) outlines the amount of time you have to file a claim after an injury. In most instances, it’s two years. This is a recent change from the previous statute of limitations, which gave you four years to file.

Another important Florida law that impacts your legal rights and these types of claims is comparative negligence. Pure comparative negligence in the Sunshine State allows you to still recover losses as long as you were not 100% to blame. Your winnings will be proportionally reduced, however. 

To make the process of starting these claims easier, you need to understand the type of case you have. A premise liability case involving a boiler that your landlord should have maintained, for example, will require proving negligence. If you suffered a chemical burn from a dangerous product, on the other hand, you can pursue a product liability claim that holds the manufacturer strictly liable. 

In instances when you suffer an injury at work, workers’ compensation claims are available. These are different from personal injury claims because you can’t receive non-economic damages. If a third party contributed to or caused the injury at work, that allows you to pursue a third-party claim. 

However, what about settlements vs. lawsuits? A settlement occurs when your lawyer is able to negotiate a fair deal with the insurance company. If this isn’t possible, your lawyer can file a lawsuit and take the case to court. 

How Jack Bernstein, Injury Attorneys, Helps Tampa Burn Victims

Our legal team of Tampa burn injury lawyers offers numerous services to assist you through a claim. 

We provide the following:

• In-depth claim investigation.
• Consultations with medical experts and accident reconstructionists.
• Negotiations with insurance companies.
• Representation in court, when needed.
• Support during the recovery process.
• Coordination with the TGH Burn Center team.
• Help with planning future care.

We have extensive resources to help our burn injury attorneys put together a robust case. 

Tampa Burn Injury FAQs