Understanding liability, compensation, and legal action for burn victims
Burn injuries can be devastating, leading to long-term pain, scarring, and high medical costs. In Illinois, victims can file lawsuits against negligent businesses, landlords, manufacturers, or employers if their actions led to a burn injury. Common causes include workplace accidents, defective products, premises hazards, and fires caused by negligence.
Feel the burn.
Sick burn!
Slow burn.
There are so many expressions involving “burn” that make the word sound enticing or like it’s a good thing. But a burn injury is never good—in fact, burns account for more than a quarter million injuries in a typical year, according to the CDC. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reports that every 60 seconds, someone in the U.S. suffers a burn injury serious enough to require treatment. Scald burns are the second-leading cause of burn injuries—these are burns from bath water, hot coffee, microwaved food, and similar, and they happen to both children and adults.
The Illinois State Fire Marshall said that although the majority of people who suffer burn injuries will survive, “many of those survivors will sustain serious scarring, life-long physical disabilities causing difficulties adjusting back to everyday life after their injury.”
Most common types of Illinois burn injuries
Thermal burns
These are caused by contact with a heat source like a flame, hot liquid (scald), hot object, or steam. Scald injuries are more common in children than adults, particularly children under five years old. Thermal burns comprise about 86% of all burn injuries that require hospital admission.
A thermal burn raises the temperature of the skin and tissues and causes tissue cell death or charring.
Flame burns
Flame burns involve direct contact with fire or flame; they are a leading cause of adult burn injuries.
Contact burns
A contact burn is prolonged contact with a hot object.
Radiation burns
A radiation burn happens from prolonged exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun or other sources, like an X-ray.
Electrical, chemical and other types of burns
Electrical and chemical burns are less common; they account for 4% and 3% of all burns, respectively. A chemical burn is from contact with strong acids, alkalies, detergents or solvents that come into contact with skin or eyes. Electrical burns are from either alternating (AC) or direct current (DC).
Classifications of burn injuries in Illinois
| First-degree burn injuries 🔥 | This involves only the outermost layer of skin. A first-degree burn can look red and feel painful and dry but does not involve blisters. This includes mild sunburn, for instance. It is unusual to experience long-term tissue damage from a first-degree burn. |
| Second-degree burn injuries 🔥🔥 | The outer layer of skin (epidermis) and next layer of skin (dermis) are affected. The burn will appear red, blistered, and will be swollen and painful. |
| Third-degree burn injuries 🔥🔥🔥 | The epidermis and dermis are destroyed. A third-degree burn could also damage bones, muscles and tendons beneath the skin. When there is internal damage of bones, muscles and tendons, it’s sometimes called a fourth-degree burn. There is no feeling in the burn area because nerve endings have been destroyed. A more severe or extensive burn requires specialized medical treatment; the best indicator of the likelihood of recovery is usually the victim’s age and the percentage of their body surface that was burned. |
When does a victim require care at a specialized burn center?
- Partial-thickness burns that cover 10% or more of the total body surface area
- Electrical injury
- Chemical burn
- Full-thickness burns (for a person of any age)
- Burns to the face, hands, feet, groin, or genital area
- Burns that extend all around a portion of the body
- Burns with inhalation injury that affects airway or lungs
- Negligent supervision of a child or elder abuse
- Burn victims with a preexisting chronic condition like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease or multiple sclerosis.
A victim of a severe burn injury could lose physical abilities, including limb loss, disfigurement, loss of mobility, scarring, and recurrent infections. Infections happen because the burned skin has decreased ability to fight infection.
Burns can leave the victim with emotional damage, too. Victims have been known to suffer from depression, nightmares, or flashbacks from the traumatizing event.
What services does a burn center provide?
Burn treatment centers offer much more than basic medical care. Once the burn injury is stabilized, a patient might require rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is intended to help the patient recover the highest level of function and independence possible. It’s aimed at improving the patient’s physical, emotional and social well-being.
A rehabilitation program might include:
- Complex wound care
- Nutritional counseling
- Pain management
- Patient and family education and counseling
- Physical therapy and exercise
- Counseling for emotional issues such as depression, grief, anxiety, guilt and insomnia
- Skin grafting
- Cosmetic reconstruction
- Occupational therapy
Illinois burn treatment centers
| Loyola University Medical Center Burn Center | Maywood, Burr Ridge |
| Memorial Burn Care (Springfield Memorial Hospital) | Springfield |
| OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center Regional Burn Unit | Rockford |
| Cook County Burn Center (John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County) | Chicago |
| University of Chicago Medicine Burn and Complex Wound Center | Chicago |
| Lurie Children’s Hospital | Chicago |
Illinois burn injury lawsuits
Illinois jury awards $7.1 million to burn victim
A Pennsylvania woman sued Chicago-based Conagra Brands after she was badly burned by cooking spray. The spray ignited and exploded in a kitchen at her workplace, and the woman caught fire. The lawsuit claimed the spray exploded into a fireball “suddenly and without warning,” and the plaintiff suffered second-degree burns on her head, face, arms and hands. Her movement was restricted for six years following the accident.
In 2024, the jury awarded the plaintiff $3.1 million in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages.
What’s the difference between compensatory and punitive damages?
“Damages” is the money a plaintiff recovers in a lawsuit. The purpose of a personal injury lawsuit is to make a plaintiff “whole,” or to restore them to the financial condition they would be in if the accident hadn’t happened.
Compensatory damages provide costs for medical treatment, lost wages, expenses of daily life (for example, housecleaning, child care, transportation, etc.), along with losses related to emotional distress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mental anguish, etc.
Punitive damages are in addition to compensatory damages. They are awarded to the plaintiff, but serve as a “punishment” to the defendant for extraordinary or reckless negligence. These damages are intended to deter the defendant and similar entities from being similarly negligent in the future.
IIlinois negligence-based lawsuits
A defendant is negligent if they failed to take reasonable care to prevent injury. However, Illinois follows a modified comparative fault rule. That means if the plaintiff is 51% or more at fault for their own injury, they cannot recover any damages. If they are 50% or less at fault, they may recover reduced damages according to their percentage of fault.
For example, if the plaintiff wins $10,000 from an Illinois burn injury lawsuit and the jury finds they contributed 30% liability to their own injury, the damage award would be reduced by 30%. The plaintiff would receive $7,000 in damages. These Illinois personal injury lawsuits have a two-year statute of limitations. That means the plaintiff has two years from the date of the burn injury in which to file a lawsuit.
Illinois burn injuries and product liability claims
An Illinois product liability lawsuit is a legal action against a manufacturer, distributor, or retailer for a defective product (the faulty cooking spray in the Conagra lawsuit is one example).
A plaintiff may hold a manufacturer responsible for a manufacturing defect, design defect, or failure to provide adequate warnings and instructions for using a product correctly to avoid injury.
Illinois burn injuries and premises liability claims
Illinois premises liability is the area of law that covers an injury resulting from a hazardous property condition.
This might include accidents from conditions like these that cause a burn injury:
- A restaurant serves a drink at an unreasonably high temperature and the customer is burned (read more: Starbucks Burn Injury Lawsuits: What Victims Need to Know);
- A waiter spills scalding soup or coffee on a customer;
- A hotel’s shower water temperature is set dangerously high and a guest is burned;
- A hotel, store, or rental property has exposed wiring, leading to an electric shock and burn;
- A public venue has a faulty electrical panel or an unsafe outlet;
- A gym, salon, or spa fails to provide proper safety instructions for chemical-based treatments;
- A pool’s chlorine levels are too high, causing severe skin burns;
- A janitor spills an industrial cleaner in a public area without warning signs;
- A hotel or apartment lacks fire alarms, sprinklers, or emergency exits;
- A restaurant or bar has an open flame or faulty stove, causing a fire or explosion;
- A store’s flammable products are improperly stored, leading to a fire;
- A malfunctioning space heater in a rental unit causes a fire;
- A hotel’s heating system overheats, causing burns when touched; or
- A defective gas stove leaks gas, leading to an explosion.
Illinois workers’ compensation for burn injuries
An injured employee may receive Illinois workers’ compensation benefits for a burn injury suffered at work. An injured worker has 45 days to notify their employer of the injury in writing and three years to file a claim with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission.
Illinois burn injury workers’ compensation benefits can include:
- Medical expenses
- Wage loss benefits
- Temporary partial disability (TPD)
- Temporary total disability (TTD)
- Permanent partial disability (PPD)
- Permanent total disability (PTD)
- Death benefits at ⅔ of the worker’s average weekly wage
Should you contact an Illinois burn injury lawyer?
If you suffered a severe injury because of someone’s negligence, a product defect, or a hazardous condition, you might wish to seek the advice of an Illinois personal injury lawyer. Your lawyer will negotiate a fair settlement, anticipate your long-term needs, and minimize your liability impact.