Fire Safety Lawyer in Bronx

Lawyers Advocating for Burn Injury Victims in the Bronx and Beyond

The skilled and experienced injury attorneys at Jesse Minc Personal Injury Law represent burn injury accident victims in fire safety cases in the Greater New York City region. The people whom we serve come from the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Long Island, and Westchester County. Our Bronx burn injury attorneys have decades of combined experience advocating for people who have suffered burn injuries because of negligent property maintenance, construction accidents, workplace accidents, and other incidents. To ensure that each of our clients’ cases receives the proper amount of attention and resources required for success, we limit the number of cases that we accept so that every client can receive the full amount of care and attention that they deserve. This not only means that we will put our money behind your case, but also that our clients have direct access to their attorneys, and they will never be rerouted exclusively to support staff when they have questions about their case without a chance to speak to their lawyer about issues that are important to them. Perhaps nothing speaks to our commitment to excellence and dedication to our clients more clearly than our 95 percent success rate in obtaining positive outcomes in both the courtroom and the conference room.

The Impact of Burn Injuries

Injuries caused by burns are among the most painful injuries imaginable, and even seemingly minor burns can cause severe and immediate pain and suffering, as well as lasting damage to the skin and bodily organs requiring years of costly and painful medical treatment. The overwhelming majority of burns in New York City—nearly 75%—occur in the home, and many of these are due to failures by landlords to ensure that residential buildings are maintained in a safe manner in accordance with applicable fire safety and building codes and regulations. About 10 percent of burn injuries occur on the job. Many burn injury accidents also occur while traveling, either in private vehicles or on public transportation, due to car crashes in which the vehicles ultimately catch on fire (whether due to a fuel spill, contact with an electrical pole, or otherwise).

The most common type of burn injury results from direct contact with heat, such as a direct flame, scalding water, or a hot surface. These are known as thermal burns, and they account for almost 80 percent of all burn injuries in the U.S. Electrical burns, which result from direct contact with an electrical current, account for about four percent of burn injuries, but are among the most serious as electrical burns tend to affect the internal organs and can cause heart failure. Around three percent of burn injuries result from contact with dangerous chemicals, a type of burn injury that often occurs on a construction site due to failures to ensure compliance with applicable portions of the New York Labor Law.

The severity of a burn injury is commonly described as one of three or four degrees. A first-degree burn generally affects only the outer layer of skin. While they can be extremely painful, first-degree burns rarely cause long-term damage like scarring. Second-degree burns penetrate into the deeper levels of the skin and often cause blistering. They tend to take longer to heal but also only cause significant scarring in rare circumstances. Third-degree burns destroy multiple layers of skin tissue and often leave behind skin that looks charred. They also damage or destroy nerve endings in the skin, meaning that burned areas may feel numb. This often gives way to severe pain later. The worst burns, which are those of the fourth degree, involve damage that goes beyond the skin into muscles, tendons, bones, and other tissues.

Negligent Fire Safety

As mentioned earlier, almost 75 percent of burn injuries in New York City occur in the home. Some of these injuries may result from a failure to meet a legal duty of care to prevent fires, electric shocks, and other hazards. New York City law places certain duties on property owners and landlords to take various measures to prevent fires, including smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, fire alarms, and fire escapes. Often, under New York law, the fire safety requirements applicable to a particular building often depend upon when a building was constructed, as the date of construction will usually dictate which of the updates to the New York City Building Code apply vis a vis fire safety requirements and other safety requirements pertaining to burn injury hazards. City fire codes restrict the number of people who may reside in an apartment, or who may be present in a business like a restaurant or bar, in order to avoid overcrowding that makes it harder to evacuate during a fire. Electrical codes address issues like the proper insulation of wiring in buildings.

Federal and state consumer safety laws require manufacturers to inspect and test products for defects that could cause burns. The legal doctrine of product liability holds manufacturers liable for defects that cause injuries, such as electrical burns or electrocutions from improperly insulated electrical devices or devices that overheat to a dangerous extent.

Get Advice from a Bronx Attorney for Your Potential Inadequate Fire Safety Case

As a client of Jesse Minc Personal Injury Law, you would benefit not only from a top-quality team of injury lawyers but also from some of the best investigators, paralegals, and support staff whom New York City has to offer. We have access to a network of experts in fields like public safety, engineering, medicine, and forensics. Our Bronx attorneys will work tirelessly to investigate your claims and prepare your case. These services are available to our clients at no initial cost—we will pay 100% of the cost of preparing your case for trial. You are only obligated to pay us back if we recover damages for you. To schedule a confidential, no-obligation consultation to see how we can help you, contact us online or at (718) 354-8000. Se habla español.