Maison Law represents California residents who have suffered burns due to wildfires caused by the negligence of PG&E. Our personal injury lawyers go to work immediately to hold utility giants like PG&E responsible for all injuries and medical bills that result from their carelessness. Please contact us to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with a real California lawyer and find out how to hold PG&E fully accountable for your hardships.
Do I Need a Lawyer After Suffering Burns in a PG&E-Involved Wildfire?
If you suffer serious burns while evacuating a wildfire caused by the actions of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), a lawyer can be a valuable protection for your case. PG&E and its corporate lawyers can try to downplay your injuries, simply to get away with offering you less than you need to rebuild your life.
Your California wildfire injury lawyer fully investigates what happened and stacks the evidence showing PG&E’s involvement in starting a wildfire. Your lawyer then demands full compensation for every hardship you and your family have endured and will endure in the years to come. Burn victims will go through difficult recoveries and their lifestyles can be changed forever. You should never have to worry about how you’ll pay for the care you need.
Whether you are seeking help from a fire trust fund or filing an individual lawsuit against PG&E, it’s important to have a skilled legal professional making sure you receive every benefit available.
Outlooks for Wildfire Burn Victims
Burns, along with smoke inhalation, are the biggest causes of major injuries and also tragic deaths during wildfires. Homes and possessions can be replaced, but traumatic burn damage often can’t be reversed or fully recovered from.
The recovery for burn victims is often a difficult journey. Victims can experience skin damage and also have their air passageways damaged by breathing hot air, smoke, and chemicals created by a wildfire
The Mayo Clinic describes the symptoms of the different degrees of fire injury victims could experience:
First-Degree Burns – The most minor of burns only affecting the top layer of skin (epidermis). The skin may show redness and victims will experience pain.
Second-Degree Burns – The epidermis and the second layer of skin (dermis) are damaged. Victims will see swelling and white, splotchy skin. Pain can be severe and scarring is a concern.
Third-Degree Burns – Third-degree wildfire burns reach through the skin to the layer of fat beneath. Small third-degree burns might heal within a month. Larger third-degree burns could take two years or more to completely heal.
Victims could have to go through skin graft surgery. This procedure takes healthy skin from other parts of the body and places it over damaged skin to help the wound close. Victims could also need reconstructive surgery to return the skin to a normal appearance as much as possible.
Victims may need months of physical therapy to make sure damaged skin is stretched properly to allow freedom of movement again.
These treatments obviously won’t be cheap. The costs should never be the worry of the patient when there’s no question about who started the fire. A wildfire burn injury lawyer can help you seek help in paying for your current medical bills and the burn treatments you could continue to need. Your lawyer also makes sure you have the funds to cover any additional care you could need in the years ahead. This can include money for surgeries and physical therapy.
Who Can Be Held Responsible for Burns Suffered in a California Wildfire?
Any utility company that’s found responsible for causing wildfires that go on to hurt residents and damage property can be held financially liable. PG&E has been deemed responsible for causing around three dozen fires since 2017. Investigators point to their failure to upgrade their power grid and perform necessary maintenance on and around powerlines to lessen the chance of fires during storms.
Some injury victims have secured funds through the Fire Victim Trust funded by PG&E to help people suffering injuries in the 2015 Butte Fires, the 2017 North Bay Fires, and the 2018 Camp Fires. Other victims have secured financial help with their burn recoveries through individual lawsuits.
PG&E has been found liable, but their insurance representatives will still fight to keep the funds they pay to suffering victims as low as possible. They may use their own doctors to try to show how your burns aren’t as serious as you claim. These are unfair tactics that can easily be blocked when you have a skilled burn injury lawyer on your side, monitoring your case. In fact, you can focus on healing, while having peace of mind that your lawyer is battling to earn the most in compensation possible for your injury.
Compensation Available for Wildfire Burn Victims
Your lawyer includes every hardship you’ve experienced when submitting a wildfire injury claim to PG&E’s liability insurance provider. This is a critical step because anything you forget to mention in your claim won’t contribute to the amount on your wildfire settlement check.
Your lawyer will seek full support for these and other potential damages on your behalf while causing as little disruption to your healing process as possible:
- All current and future medical expenses.
- Costs of restorative surgery to hide scars and disfigurement.
- Estimates on future costs associated with a long-term burn injury or a resulting permanent physical disability.
- Support for the physical pain and suffering wildfire victims endure through recovery.
- The emotional trauma families burn victims face. This can include PTSD symptoms after a frightening encounter with a fire. Victims may also suffer from low self-esteem due to changes in their appearance caused by a burn wound.
- Support for the loss of enjoyment of life after serious burns changes the victim’s lifestyle and restricts their enjoyment of hobbies and family activities.
- Loss of income and benefits while burn victims must miss work.
- Travel costs as burn victims must find ways to reach doctor’s appointments and physical therapy sessions.
- Beyond injury compensation, victims must seek help in replacing their homes and property from PG&E.
- Wrongful death benefits. Burns can cause massive trauma to victims and families can lose their loved ones in tragic incidents. Family members left behind can file a wrongful death claim and seek help from PG&E with funeral costs and remaining medical bills. The income the deceased can no longer provide to support a spouse and children in the years ahead must also factor into the support the family receives.
Contact a California Wildfire Injury Lawyer
Wildfires can disrupt people’s lives in ways that few other disasters can. Evacuees can flee for their lives and later learn they have no home to return to. They may suffer life-threatening burns that will require lengthy and difficult recoveries. Power and utility companies must be held responsible for their negligence and even their policies that put California residents at life-threatening risk every year.
If you or a loved one endure serious burns in a wildfire caused by human mistake, speak to a California utility fire lawyer. We aren’t afraid to take on gigantic power companies and government agencies to secure our clients what they need to heal and rebuild after a fire.
Contact Maison Law for a free consultation no matter where you live in California. Our case reviews are confidential and come with no obligation. If you decide we can help you earn more for your injuries and damages, you won’t need to have any upfront money to hire us. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement money you are awarded.
