Content reviewed by:
Alex Shulman
A burn injury case is valued by looking at how deep the burn is, what treatment costs now and later, how much scarring remains, and how much income you lose. Pain, emotional harm, and changes to daily life count too. There is no set formula, so the facts of each case determine the value.
At Shulman & Hill Injury Lawyers, we help burn survivors understand how a burn injury case is valued in New York and what evidence moves that value up. Our New York burn injury lawyer page explains how we handle these claims.
How a Burn Injury Case Is Valued in New York
Every burn claim has two main parts. Economic damages cover costs you can prove with bills and records, like medical care and lost pay. Non-economic damages cover pain, scarring, and emotional harm.
State law doesn’t cap damages in typical injury cases, so a jury decides what’s fair based on the evidence. Insurers look at the same factors when they make settlement offers. They also compare your case to past verdicts for similar burns.
That’s why the details matter. Shulman & Hill builds each burn claim around medical records, photos of healing, and testimony from your doctors about what comes next.
How Burn Degree Affects Case Value
Doctors grade burns by how deep they go into the skin and tissue. Deeper burns usually need more treatment, heal more slowly, and leave worse scars.
Burns are generally graded like this:
- First-degree burns affect only the outer layer of skin and often heal in days
- Second-degree burns reach deeper layers, cause blisters, and can scar
- Third-degree burns destroy the full thickness of the skin and often need grafts
- Fourth-degree burns reach muscle, tendon, or bone and can lead to amputation
The size of the burn matters as well. A burn that covers a large part of the body raises the risk of infection, organ problems, and long hospital stays. Burns to the face, hands, feet, or joints often carry more weight because they affect how you look and how you move.
Treatment Costs and Future Care
Serious burns often need care in a specialized burn unit. Treatment can include wound cleaning, skin grafts, and surgery to remove damaged tissue. Many survivors spend weeks in the hospital before they can go home.
Care doesn’t stop at discharge. You may need reconstructive surgery, pressure garments, physical therapy, and surgery to release tight scar tissue that limits movement. Some of these treatments continue for years, especially for children whose skin changes as they grow.
Mental health care is part of the cost too. Many burn survivors deal with anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress. Shulman & Hill works with life care planners to estimate these future costs, so they’re part of the claim from the start.
Scarring, Disfigurement, and Lost Wages
Scarring often has a large effect on the value of a burn claim. Permanent scars can change how you see yourself and how others treat you. The visibility, permanence, and effect of scarring on daily life may influence how damages are evaluated.
Several things can increase the value of scarring and disfigurement:
- Scars on the face, neck, or hands that others can see
- Scars that tighten and limit how a joint moves
- Changes in skin color or texture that won’t fade
- Loss of fingers, ears, or other body parts
Lost wages add to the claim. You may recover pay you missed while healing, plus future earnings if the burn keeps you from returning to your job. A cook or electrician with burned hands may never return to the same work, and that shapes how a burn injury case is valued in New York.
The Serious Injury Threshold in Car Crash Burns
Burns from a car crash or vehicle fire follow no-fault rules. Your own no-fault coverage pays first for medical bills and part of your lost wages. To sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering, your injury must meet the state’s serious injury threshold.
Burns often meet this test through “significant disfigurement,” one of the categories the law lists. Deep burns can also qualify as a permanent limitation of a body part or function. Photos and medical records showing the scars are usually key proof.
The threshold applies only to motor vehicle cases. Burns from a building fire, gas explosion, or job site accident don’t have to meet it. Shulman & Hill checks which rules apply before we build your claim.
When Punitive Damages May Apply
Punitive damages punish conduct that goes far beyond a simple mistake. Courts award them only in rare cases, such as when a defendant acted with reckless disregard for other people’s safety. Examples could include a landlord who ignored repeated reports of a gas leak or a company that kept using equipment it knew was unsafe.
Punitive damages are never certain. Courts look closely at what the defendant knew and when they knew it. Insurance also generally won’t cover these damages, so any award may come from the defendant’s own funds.
At Shulman & Hill, we look for evidence that may support punitive damages, like past complaints, inspection reports, and internal records. Our team runs its own investigations in-house.
Other Factors That Can Affect Value
Your award can be reduced by your share of fault, but you can still recover even if you were partly to blame. The at-fault party’s insurance limits matter too, since a small policy may not cover a large loss. Finding every responsible party, such as a property owner and a contractor, can add more sources of payment.
Burns at work often involve both workers’ comp and a separate injury claim against a third party. Shulman & Hill handles both under one roof. Since 2013, we have recovered more than $1 billion for clients, though every case is different and past results do not predict future outcomes.
Find Out What Your Burn Claim May Be Worth
How a burn injury case is valued in New York depends on the depth of the burn, the care you’ll need, the scars it leaves, and the income you lose. The stronger your evidence, the clearer that value becomes.
Shulman & Hill works on a contingency fee, so you pay nothing unless we recover money for you. Reach out today for a free case review and learn what your claim may be worth.