Burn injury claims can cover the damage expenses of victims, even in car crashes. Severe car accidents can cause burn injuries when there is fire, contact with hot surfaces, and even friction burns from the car’s interior.
Whether you’ve suffered a severe burn due to someone else’s wrongful actions or you’re trying to understand if you have a burn injury claim, this article will help you understand your rights after a burn accident from a car crash.
Can Car Accidents Cause Burn Injuries?
Car accidents can cause burn injuries. In a 2013 study, researchers looked at 14,072 car crash patients with complete data. Out of those, 99 people (or 0.7%) had burn injuries.
The study also found that:
- Burn victims were more likely to be in head-on crashes (48.5% compared to 33%).
- Their crashes involved stronger impacts, measured by how much the speed changed during the crash.
- People with burns were more likely to die from their injuries (12.5% vs. 2.1%).
Moreover, the type of vehicle and what the car hit (like another car or a wall) didn’t seem to affect whether someone got burned.
The Most Common Types of Burn Injuries
- Thermal Burns: These are the most recognizable type of burn, caused by direct contact with flames, hot liquids, or steam. From kitchen scalds to fiery car crashes, these injuries can be especially dangerous for children and the elderly, whose skin is more vulnerable.
- Electrical Burns: Apart from pain, electric shocks can cause internal injuries that aren’t always visible. Whether from faulty wiring, exposed cords, or even lightning strikes, electrical burns often require intensive medical care and long-term monitoring.
- Chemical Burns: Some of the most harmful burns are silent threats sitting in your garage or under your sink. Strong acids, drain cleaners, bleach, and gasoline can cause serious skin damage within seconds of contact, often without immediate pain, delaying treatment.
- Friction Burns: Getting thrown from a motorcycle, or even sliding on the ground due to the impact of the crash, can cause a combination of abrasion and heat damage. These burns are especially common in road accidents and can be incredibly painful and slow to heal.
Burns can range from first-degree surface injuries to fourth-degree wounds that damage nerves, tendons, and even bones. However, regardless of the degree, burns are always traumatic. Beyond physical pain, burn victims often suffer emotional scars, dealing with disfigurement, loss of mobility, and the psychological toll of the accident.
When Can Car Accident Victims File Burn Injury Claims?
If your car accident and injury were caused by someone else’s carelessness or negligence, you may have the right to pursue legal action and recover compensation.
- Were you burned due to a defective product or vehicle?
- Did a car crash lead to a fire, explosion, or road rash?
These are all potential grounds for a personal injury claim. If a manufacturer or another driver acted negligently, they could be held legally and financially responsible for your suffering.
Understanding Negligence in a Car Accident
Every driver has a legal obligation, known as a duty of care, to drive responsibly and keep others safe. When a driver speeds, texts behind the wheel, or runs a red light, they’re violating that duty. That’s negligence.
And when that negligence leads to a violent collision and leaves you with serious burn injuries, from an engine fire, a gas tank explosion, or friction burns from being thrown across the pavement, that’s when they are deemed accountable for the crash and resulting damages.
Proving Negligence in a Burn Injury Case
To win your case and secure full compensation, your legal team will need to establish four key facts:
- Duty of Care – The other driver was legally required to drive safely and obey traffic laws.
- Breach of Duty – They broke that duty by driving dangerously or recklessly.
- Causation – Their actions directly caused the crash that led to your burn injuries.
- Damages – You’ve suffered real, measurable harm, like physical pain, emotional trauma, medical bills, lost wages, or permanent scarring.
Severe burns often require surgeries, skin grafts, and extensive rehabilitation. The physical and emotional toll is overwhelming, and trying to gather evidence or negotiate with insurance companies on your own can feel impossible.
That’s why working with an experienced burn injury attorney is critical. They will handle the investigation, collect crucial proof like police reports and witness statements, and fight for the compensation you need to move forward.
What Evidence Do I Need to Prove Burn Injuries from a Car Crash?
To hold the responsible party accountable, you need clear, compelling proof that shows how the crash happened, how it caused your burns, and how deeply those burns have affected your life.
Here’s what evidence you need to build a strong case:
Medical Records
From the moment you’re rushed to the ER, your medical journey begins. These records are critical because they prove the severity of your burns and the long road to recovery ahead.
- ER and hospital records
- Burn unit and specialist reports
- Treatment plans (skin grafts, wound care, rehab)
- Photos of your burns over time
- Psychological evaluations for trauma or PTSD
- Prognosis for permanent scarring or disability
Evidence From the Scene Showing What Happened
If your burns were caused by fire, hot metal, or even chemicals in the car, proving this connection is essential. You can show this by gathering evidence at the scene (only if you can), such as:
- Police reports detailing how the crash occurred
- Photos and videos of the wreck, flames, or burned materials
- Fire department records, if they responded
- Eyewitness testimony
- Surveillance footage from nearby cameras
Damaged Clothing or Belongings
Something as simple as your scorched clothing, melted seatbelt, or charred personal belongings can serve as powerful physical evidence in a burn injury case.
A burned shirt can show exactly where flames or extreme heat made contact with your body. A melted seatbelt can prove you were trapped in the vehicle long enough to suffer serious harm. Even a damaged phone or singed bag can help paint a clearer picture of the intensity of the crash and the conditions you endured.
These physical remnants of the accident may seem like just simple objects, but in the hands of a skilled legal team, they become compelling visual proof, helping insurance companies, judges, or juries truly grasp the severity of what you went through.
Proof of How Your Life Has Been Affected
Burn injuries don’t just damage your skin; they can change every part of your life. Many victims face months or even years of emotional and financial turmoil. You may be forced to miss work, lose your job, or give up a career you once loved. Aside from this, treatments can be invasive and exhausting. And for many, burn scars can cause drastic changes in how they look, resulting in some losing confidence in themselves.
This kind of suffering deserves to be acknowledged and compensated. That’s why it’s critical to gather thorough documentation of the real impact your injuries have had. This includes:
- Proof of lost income – Pay stubs, employer statements, or job records showing how much work you’ve missed or if you can no longer work at all.
- Receipts for out-of-pocket expenses – From medications and wound care supplies to mobility aids or in-home help, every expense adds up.
- Personal reflections or a pain journal – Writing down your physical pain, emotional struggles, and the daily challenges of recovery helps tell the story no one else can.
- Photos of your injuries (then and now) – These images provide powerful visual evidence of your healing journey and the lasting scars, both seen and unseen.
Expert Witnesses
Sometimes, your word needs to be supported by professionals. Medical experts, mental health specialists, or accident reconstructionists can speak to the cause, severity, and impact of your burn injuries.
- Burn specialists or trauma doctors
- Psychologists or therapists
- Accident reconstruction experts who can explain what went wrong
Their testimony adds strength and credibility to your case, helping others understand just how serious your situation is.
Unfortunately, gathering this kind of evidence might feel overwhelming, especially when you’re still in pain. But you don’t have to do it alone. An experienced burin injury attorney can take the burden off your shoulders: investigating, collecting, and presenting the facts with the compassion and skill your story deserves.
How Much Compensation Should Victims Get from Burn Injury Claims?
When someone else’s negligence caused your suffering, you have every right to seek justice. But how much is your pain worth? The truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all number. Instead, burn injury claims depend on how deeply the injury has affected your body, your finances, and your future.
Here are the key factors that shape burn injury compensation:
Severity of the Burn
The deeper the damage, the greater the impact:
- First-degree burns may heal quickly with little scarring.
- Second- and third-degree burns often require painful treatments, skin grafts, and long recovery times.
- Fourth-degree burns can result in permanent disability or even the loss of a limb, which are injuries that alter the course of your life.
The more severe your injury, the more compensation you may be entitled to.
Past, Present, and Future Medical Expenses
From ambulance rides to surgeries, treatment for burn injuries can be physically and financially overwhelming:
- Emergency room care and hospital stays
- Wound care and burn centers
- Multiple surgeries or skin grafts
- Physical and occupational therapy
- Long-term care or reconstructive procedures
Pain and Suffering
Burn injuries can emotionally impact car accident victims, too. If you experience the following, you may be entitled to compensation:
- Ongoing physical agony
- Anxiety, depression, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Loss of confidence or self-worth
- Inability to enjoy the life you once had
Lost Wages and Earning Capacity
Missing work means missing paychecks, and that can quickly lead to financial stress. If your injuries keep you from returning to your job or force you into a lower-paying role, you could recover compensation for:
- Time away from work
- Lost bonuses or promotions
- Permanent loss of income if you can’t return to your profession
Scarring and Disfigurement
Burn scars are often more than skin deep. They can change how you move, how you interact with others, and how you feel about yourself. Compensation for visible, permanent scars often includes the emotional cost of:
- Social isolation
- Body image struggles
- Psychological trauma
Punitive Damages (in extreme cases)
If the person or company responsible for your injuries acted with extreme recklessness, such as a company selling a dangerously defective product, the court may award punitive damages. This type of damage aims to send a message that this behavior won’t be tolerated.
Burn injury settlements can range from tens of thousands for minor injuries to millions of dollars for catastrophic, life-changing burns. But one thing’s for sure: you deserve more than a check that only covers your hospital bill.
Burn injury lawyers evaluate the full impact of your accident—emotional, physical, and financial—and factor these into settlement negotiations to ensure you receive fair and maximum compensation.
How Can a Burn Injury Attorney Help Me After a Crash?
Burn injuries from a car crash are among the most excruciating and life-altering experiences a person can endure. Apart from the actual pain, it can cause anxiety, loss of confidence, and psychological trauma.
Sadly, not all victims know that these intangible losses can be included in the burn injury claims. So, they accept compensation that hardly covers the total damage they incur. With a car accident lawyer, rest assured that all these losses are accounted for to help you recover fully.
Moreover, an experienced burn injury lawyer does more than just file paperwork. They become your voice, your advocate, and your shield when you’re at your most vulnerable. They will do the following to help you recover and heal:
Investigate the Cause of the Crash
Not every car accident leads to a fire, but when it does, it often points to serious negligence. Your burn injury attorney will gather crash reports, witness accounts, and photos, consult accident reconstruction experts, and identify all liable parties, including vehicle manufacturers (in the case of fuel system defects).
Prove the Full Impact of Your Burn Injuries
Burns aren’t just skin-deep, and good burn injury lawyers know how to document the deeper trauma, including hospital stays, surgeries, chronic pain, limited mobility, scarring, disfigurement, and how your injury affects your ability to work, connect, and live your life.
Fight for Maximum Compensation
Insurance companies often rush to offer a settlement, but they don’t account for future surgeries, long-term care, or the emotional cost of disfigurement. Your lawyer will fight to make sure your compensation covers your overall losses.
Handle the Legalities of Burn Injury Claims
When you’re focused on healing, the last thing you should worry about is forms, deadlines, or aggressive insurance adjusters. Your lawyer takes that burden off your shoulders, allowing you to focus on recovery.
Take Your Case to Trial (If Needed)
If the other side refuses to offer what your case is truly worth, your attorney can present a powerful, compassionate case in court, backed by evidence, experts, and your lived experience.
A burn injury from a car accident doesn’t just leave scars. It can steal your confidence, your livelihood, and your peace of mind. At a time when you’re most vulnerable, burn injury lawyers become your strongest ally, working tirelessly to hold the responsible party accountable and help you rebuild your life.
If you or a loved one suffered burn injuries after a crash, contact The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker today. Let us help you fight for the care, respect, and compensation you deserve.
Call our burn injury lawyers at 562-620-5912 for a free consultation. You don’t have to face this painful chapter alone. We’re here to help you heal and move forward with strength and support.
After a car wreck, time matters. Call us today for a free case review—our attorneys will stand by you from start to finish.
What Our Clients Say About Us
No other personal injury lawyer will fight for you as passionately as we will, even though many may take on your case and prepare a legal defense. Our proven track record shows that our lawyers are exceptionally prepared to pursue claims successfully and secure the compensation our clients deserve.
“Took some time, but they made it happen. I would continue to utilize their services when needed.” – Kay Kay B.
Frequently Asked Questions About Personal Injury Claims
Need to learn more about car accident claims? We want to help you! Here are common questions injured victims ask, which may clarify various aspects of your case.
- Who is Liable for a Car Accident with an Unlicensed Driver?
- California Car Crashes with Vision-Impaired Drivers: Who is Liable?
- Do All Car Accidents Require Filing a Lawsuit?
- Can I Sue the Company in a Rideshare Accident?
References
Mechanisms of motor vehicle crashes related to burns—An analysis of the German In Depth Accident Study (GIDAS) database. (2013, December). ScienceDirect. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305417913003148
