Burn Workplace Injury Attorney

How Our Burn Injury Attorney Can Help Your Case

Although designed to put benefits in the hands of injured workers, the workers’ compensation claim process is not always worker-friendly. Challenges frequently arise that frustrate injured employees’ efforts to get the money they need to provide for themselves and their families. 

Our seasoned burn injury attorney, Lila Mahooti, helps workers overcome these challenges and fights to get her clients the resources that will help them weather the future, which is often uncertain. 

With high-level representation, you do not have to worry about the obstacles on the road to compensation and can spend your time focusing on getting better and adjusting to your injuries. 

While you’re recovering, Lila Mahooti will be working hard to ensure that your claim is strong and compliant, including:

• Handling all paperwork for your workers’ compensation claim
• Investigating the accident and collecting evidence
• Consulting with medical and accident injury experts 
• Identifying other possible sources of compensation besides workers’ comp
• Helping appeal a denied claim

You should not fret if your burn claim is denied. Denial is not the end of the story.

Insurance adjusters routinely deny perfectly valid claims because they are not on your side but on the side of their employer, the insurance company. If your claim is denied, Lila Mahooti will help you through the somewhat complex appeals process, which may include hearings and a trial. 

Your burn injury attorney at Mahooti Law Group will also investigate other potential sources of compensation in addition to your workers’ compensation claim. 

Although workers’ compensation is designed to be the exclusive source of compensation for injured workers, there are many instances where you can hold other parties, including your employer, liable for your burn injury and recover far more compensation than what is allowed with workers’ comp.

Mahooti Law & Burn Injuries

Mahooti Law Group exclusively represents workers who have been injured on the job. After over a decade of defending insurers against workers’ compensation claims, founder Lila Mahooti decided to dedicate her efforts to helping workers get the compensation they deserve and founded Mahooti Law Group.

Since then, the firm has represented numerous burn injury clients in their quests to get maximum compensation for their work-related injuries. With years of experience and deep knowledge of how insurance companies defend against workers’ compensation claims, Mahooti Law Group time and again proves to be a valuable asset for injured workers.

If you have suffered a burn on the job, you deserve to access the benefits established by law for all workers. You should not have to deal with claim denials, difficult adjusters, and uncooperative employers who make it difficult and even impossible for you to get the funds you need. 

Burn injury attorney Lila Mahooti can handle these obstacles for you to assure you that your claim will be honored and paid in full. 

You also deserve to know whether other sources of compensation are available to you, and you have the right to pursue them in addition to your workers’ compensation claim. Mahooti Law Group will exhaust all avenues of compensation for your burn injury. Call 213-674-7515 today for a free consultation.

No-Fault Representation for Injured Workers

At Mahooti Law Group, Lila Mahooti specializes in providing compassionate and dedicated legal representation to injured workers throughout California. Lila Mahooti is well-versed in the complexities of workers’ compensation law and understands the challenges faced by individuals who have suffered burn injuries at work.

What Does “No-Fault” Mean?

California’s workers’ compensation system operates on a “no-fault” principle. This means that injured workers are entitled to benefits regardless of who is at fault for the accident or injury. The no-fault approach ensures that injured workers can access necessary medical treatment, wage replacement benefits, and other essential support without the need to establish fault or prove negligence on the part of their employer.

Your Rights as an Injured Worker

As an injured worker, it is crucial to understand your rights within the workers’ compensation system. Our dedicated attorney will guide you through the legal process and ensure that you receive the benefits you deserve.

Suffering Burn Injuries at Work

Burn injuries occur in careers that range from construction to healthcare to the restaurant industry. Many of these injuries are due to negligence or error that is often no fault of the employee who suffers the burn. 

Regardless of the industry in which they occur, burn injuries also share many of the same causes:

• Heat: Fire, steam, and hot liquids, objects, and surfaces 
• Chemical: Industrial chemicals in liquid, gas, or solid forms
• Radiation: X-rays, UV lights, or radiation therapy
• Cold: Wet, cold, or icy conditions; contact with extremely cold objects
• Electrical: Exposed wires and cables, faulty products, or lightning
• Friction: Abrasive and sliding contact with hard surfaces, carpets, and roads

Heat burns are extremely common in the restaurant industry, but they may occur in other contexts, such as manufacturing and construction. Chemical burns are frequent in industrial contexts where the use of corrosives is common, while radiation burns may occur in healthcare settings during treatment and testing.

Some workers may be exposed to extremely cold conditions while working outdoors in harsh weather or working inside freezers. And electrical burns can occur in a wide variety of work situations but are more common in the construction industry.

Workers are at risk of experiencing friction burns in nearly every job context, especially those where vehicles and transportation are involved.

Types of Burn Injuries Sustained at Work

A worker might experience a first-, second-, or third-degree burn:

• First-Degree: These burns are considered superficial and only affect the first layer of skin.
• Second-Degree: Second-degree burns affect the first and second layers of skin. They may be classified as superficial or deep, depending on the severity. 
• Third-Degree: Burns of this degree affect every layer of the skin as well as any tissue underneath the skin and require emergency medical care.

The severity of a burn may not be apparent at first, which is why a worker who is burned should always consider seeking medical care.

How Burn Injuries May Impact Your Life

A burn can cause horrific physical injuries, along with extensive psychological damage. Although the worker experiences the physical impact of a burn, a worker’s loved ones may also suffer emotional trauma.

When burns are severe enough, they can cause physical scarring that forever reminds the victim of the terrible events that caused it. Unsurprisingly, this frequently leads to depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other debilitating mental health conditions. 

Burns also impact a worker’s ability to engage in the life activities they once participated in, including work, family, and community activities. A major burn can forever limit or exclude a worker from certain careers. And even if they are physically able to return to work, they may face a psychological barrier that hinders their efforts.

In addition to hampering their work efforts, a burn injury can also wreak havoc on a worker’s ability to fulfill their family and community duties. They may be unable to provide the love, care, and guidance to their family they once did. And their injuries may prevent them from participating in social activities and events. 

Why Workman’s Compensation Might Not Be Enough

Workers’ compensation gives you access to certain forms of compensation for your injuries, including medical treatment and partial wage replacement. Depending on the extent of your injuries, you may receive:

• Temporary Disability: Weekly wage-replacement compensation until you can return to work
• Permanent Disability: Permanent weekly wage-replacement 
• Vocational Rehabilitation: Funds in the form of a voucher to help you with education and training in a new employment field

Most injured workers receive two-thirds of their pre-accident income in disability benefits. 

However, you might not receive this income if a doctor decides that your injuries are not as serious as you believe they are. When this occurs, you will have to return to work. 

Sadly, many workers find themselves in this situation when a doctor chosen by their employer refuses to certify their injury as serious enough to receive benefits.

For this reason, Lila Mahooti fights to get her clients seen by doctors who are not influenced by the bottom line of the worker’s employer and seeks second and even third opinions from other physicians when appropriate.

Even if you get full workers’ compensation benefits, they simply may not provide you with the resources you need. 

Two-thirds wage replacement may fall short of your budget, and you must find a way to get by with this lower income unless your employer can offer you modified or alternative work. If you are offered a new position, your employer must pay you at least 85% of your pre-accident wage.

Even then, however, you will not be getting any of the other forms of compensation typically available in personal injury cases, such as:

• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Permanent disability and disfigurement
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of consortium 

However, compensation for these losses may be available if your burn injury attorney at Mahooti Law Group can identify other parties who potentially owe you compensation, such as:

• The property owner of your workplace whose negligence caused your injury
• Product manufacturers of dangerously defective tools and equipment
• Negligent third parties not employed by your employer

You may also have a case against your employer in certain situations, such as if your employer did not have valid workers’ compensation insurance.