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Miami and Tampa burn injury lawyer

The surgeries do not stop when the burn heals.

A serious burn is among the most expensive injuries in medicine and among the longest. Grafting, revision, contracture release and scar management continue for years, and the disfigurement is permanent in a way that a settlement calculated on the first admission never captures.

Free case review Miami (305) 662-4323 Tampa (813) 930-5422
Deadline to sue
2 yearsFla. Stat. § 95.11, for injuries on or after 24 March 2023
Drives value
ScarringDisfigurement and revision surgery, not the initial admission
At work
Two claimsComp against the employer, negligence against anyone else
Products
Separate claimA defective heater, wiring or device adds a defendant

01 Where they come from

Rarely one party’s fault alone

Apartment and building fires, electrical contact on job sites, chemical exposure in industrial and cleaning work, scalding from failed water heaters and plumbing, vehicle fires, and defective appliances, batteries and devices.

Each implicates more than one potential defendant — a landlord who ignored the wiring, a contractor, a product manufacturer, an employer alongside a third party. The route to a recovery that actually covers the care is usually through more than one of them.

02 What it is worth

How scarring and disfigurement are compensated in Florida

Florida recognises scarring and disfigurement as compensable in their own right, separate from the medical cost and the lost income. For burns to the face, hands or any visible area, this is frequently the largest part of the claim.

It requires a plastic or burn surgeon to set out what revision is likely over the years, at what cost. Settling before that opinion exists means absorbing the cost of every future surgery yourself.

03 Where these cases come from

Miami-Dade

Miami-Dade burn injuries come from apartment fires, construction and electrical work, and the restaurant and industrial kitchens across the county. Serious burns are stabilised at Jackson Memorial.

The Miami office · Homestead

Hillsborough

Hillsborough injuries arise on industrial and construction sites, in warehousing, and in residential fires, with Tampa General serving as the regional center.

The Tampa office

04 What damages a claim

  • Settling before a surgeon has set out the likely course of revision.
  • Letting the appliance, wiring or device be discarded before it is examined.
  • Treating a workplace burn as a workers’ compensation claim alone.
  • Not photographing the healing at intervals, which is the record of what was endured.

Frequently asked questions about Florida burn injuries

It happened at work. Is workers’ compensation all I get?

Against your employer, generally yes. Against anyone else who caused it — a subcontractor, a property owner, the manufacturer of the equipment — it is an ordinary negligence claim with full damages.

Burns on job sites very frequently involve someone other than the employer.

My landlord says the fire was not their fault. Now what?

That is a question about the building: the wiring, the smoke alarms, the means of escape, and whether prior complaints were made and ignored.

Fire marshal and code enforcement records for the address are public, and they are usually where the answer starts.

05 Related matters

The full list is on the personal injury page.

Tell Jose what happened

A free review of your burn injuries case, with no obligation, and no fee and no costs unless there is a recovery. English or Spanish, whichever you would rather use. You speak with Jose A. Dapena directly at every stage, not with an intake department — and if there is no claim worth bringing, he will tell you that.

Miami (305) 662-4323 Homestead (786) 900-0184 Tampa (813) 930-5422