Fire Lawsuit Loans

The Basics of Fire Lawsuits

A fire-related lawsuit encompasses a wide range of legal cases such as personal injury, property damage, negligence, and wrongful death. Fires can result from numerous scenarios like faulty wiring, defective products, arson, or general negligence. The aftermath often leads to significant property damage, severe physical injuries, or even tragic loss of life.

If you’re a victim of a fire incident, you may be entitled to compensation to recover losses. This is where fire-related lawsuits come into play; they offer some form of economic relief for victims.

The legal paths involved in these lawsuits can be quite complex, requiring extensive understanding and professional help to successfully navigate. By filing a lawsuit, you seek damages (compensation) for things like medical expenses, lost wages, emotional distress, and property repair or replacement.

In most instances, these cases go through prolonged litigation, causing financial stress on victims. It’s at this point specifically that Uplift Legal Funding steps in, offering pre-settlement funding to help plaintiffs meet their financial needs as they await their settlements.

Burn Injuries

Burn injuries vary in terms of severity and are generally caused by radiant heat from the fire, flames touching the body, clothes setting on fire, or smoke inhalation (breathing in hot, chemical-filled smoke).

Depending on the extent of the burn, medical costs and treatment can become quite hefty. Here is a breakdown of burn injury classification:

• Second-degree – Deep second-degree burns result in damaged skin. Usually, it takes the victim weeks or months to heal. Most often, even after healing, second-degree burns result in permanent scars.
• Third-degree – Third-degree burns not only involve the skin, but also the muscle, bone, subcutaneous tissue (the tissue under the skin), etc. Third-degree burn victims suffer skin loss as well as catastrophic skin and subcutaneous tissue damage. In some cases, the victim can suffer internal bleeding or swelling of tissues (or compartment syndrome), which is life-threatening.
• Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Degree – These burns cause damage to the epidermal, dermal, subcutaneous layer as well as the muscle and bone. These victims suffer skin loss as well as severe muscle and/ or bone damage. In every instance of these types of burns, surgery and long-term therapy are required.

Complications from burns may also arise – sometimes leading to death. These include infections, fluid loss, and over-resuscitation.

Although burns do happen, smoke inhalation is the most common fire injury. In fact, most fire deaths are caused by smoke. When smoke is breathed in, chemicals work quickly to cause respiratory failure and oxygen deprivation, leading to brain damage, cardiac dysfunction, and sometimes even death.

Who is at fault?

Workplace Fire

• Workplace fires result in 20 to 30 percent of all burn injury hospitalizations in the country. Under premises liability, an employer is legally obligated to provide workers with a reasonably safe environment. Negligence means that the defendant breached its duty of care by failing to provide a safe work environment for its employees. When their negligence results in an employee’s injury or fatality, a lawsuit can be filed.

Home Fire

• Like with workplace fires, apartment owners are responsible for maintaining a safe environment. Fires due to negligence can present a strong case for the plaintiff. It is also worthy to note that if your injury was the result of a malfunctioning device, you may also have a case against the manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of the product.
• If you are a homeowner, your insurance should cover house fires. In the case you are renting, the landlord could be held liable. If a product causes a fire (such as a mattress or couch), the product manufacturer could be held liable.

Other Building Owners

• Other property owners can also be held liable in the event of a fire. For example, in 2016 a fire erupted at the Ghost Ship, an Oakland warehouse used as a music venue. It turned out to be the deadliest fire in Oakland’s history, with 36 people dying. Further investigation led officers to uncover emails from 2014 that reported serious electrical problems in the warehouse. As a result, two Ghost Ship proprietors were arrested and charged in connection to the fire.

Burden of Proof

Evidence is essential to make any strong case. The more solid evidence, the more potential for a higher settlement and lawsuit loan eligibility. In a fire lawsuit, the first step is to determine what caused the flames.

Your attorney will usually seek the help of an expert to determine the following:

• Burn and char patterns
• Degree of material decomposition

This investigation will usually lead to an “area of origin” (the area of significant decomposition) and finally the “point of origin” (which tells us where the fire first started).

Other essential evidence for a fire lawsuit includes:

• Surveillance footage – If applicable, this is essential but may be hard to obtain. Be sure to follow up with the owner to get the footage that shows the accident.
• Photo and video – Immediately after the incident, be sure to obtain photo and video. These will serve as solid proof of the hazard and injury.
• Witness statement – Quickly try to get written statements from any witnesses present, documenting that the hazardous condition or negligence led to your accident. Get their signature on this statement as well.
• Expert statement – For fire cases, experts usually are from the fields of engineering, accident reconstruction, and medicine. They are crucial to determining the cause of the fire, the amount of pain and suffering, and the estimated future medical expenses.

Higher Settlement and Lawsuit Loans

The more valuable a case, the higher chance of a larger settlement for the plaintiff. In these cases, the plaintiff has most likely endured significant injury and loss of quality of life, amounting to higher damages. The compensation won from a fire lawsuit covers the plaintiff’s past and future medical expenses, wage loss, and pain and suffering.

Unfortunately, the plaintiff is often left with the financial burden until settlement arrives. To make a stressful situation even worse, fire lawsuits can be quite lengthy. Lawyers must obtain adequate witness statements and experts, conduct research, and provide valid proof of negligence. Oftentimes, the defendant will purposefully draw out a case, which pressures the plaintiff to settle for a lower amount.

Fire damage lawsuit loans can help. To qualify for legal funding and cash advances, make sure you have the following documentation:

• Medical records that show your injuries and any surgeries that you have had
• Information and statements that prove you were not at fault for the accident – use the above section to look at valuable evidence that works
• A confirmation of the insurance information
• Court documents

Uplift Legal Funding

If you are the victim of a fire or are pursuing any other premises liability claim, Uplift Legal Funding can help. Let us cover your medical costs, lost wages, and other living expenses so that you can allow your attorney to work toward a higher settlement. Best of all, if you do not win the case, you do not owe us anything! Apply online or give us a call at (800) 385-3660.