What to Do After a Burn Injury in Mount Pleasant
Burn care comes first. While you're being treated, a family member or friend can start saving what matters.
- Get emergency care. A serious burn, an explosion or a fire with someone hurt means a 911 call. Keep every surgery, dressing change and therapy appointment, and save the paperwork.
- Ask for the report. The fire department, police or business that responded may have a report and case number.
- Save the equipment only when it's safe. Don't touch damaged batteries, wiring, gas appliances or other hazards without guidance from a safety professional. If it is safe, keep the item, its packaging and the purchase records, and ask a lawyer before anything is returned or thrown out.
- Photograph before cleanup. Someone can get outlets, appliances, scorch marks, smoke damage and any warning labels.
- Keep a photo record of healing. A dated picture every week or so, through grafts and scarring, shows what recovery has looked like.
- Keep receipts and boxes. Manuals, order emails and packaging can identify who made and sold a product.
If a lithium-ion battery, leaking fuel or damaged wiring is involved, ask the fire department how to handle it. Damaged batteries can catch fire again.
Where Burns Happen Around Mount Pleasant
Burns can come from a house fire in an older home in the Old Village, a grill or propane tank on a deck, a boat fire at a fuel dock on the waterway, a kitchen job or a phone or scooter battery that fails. Where it happened and what failed both matter.
How Long You Have
Most injury suits in South Carolina must be filed within three years.1 The deadline is for going to court, and an insurance claim doesn't stop it.2 A Tort Claims Act suit against a state or local government body generally has a two-year deadline, which a qualifying verified claim may extend to three years.4 Special rules and caps on damages may also apply.3
If the fire traces to wiring, gas lines or building work, time may be shorter than you'd expect. Claims against builders, contractors and designers over work on real property can be barred by a fixed outer limit, no matter when the problem is found.5 For building work, that cutoff generally falls eight years after the job was substantially finished, with some exceptions.6
The statewide page on burn injury claims has more. If a product failed, see Mount Pleasant defective product claims.
Want someone to look at your situation?
Talk with our team about what happened and ask the questions on your mind.
Talk With Us
Serious burns change daily life for a long time. We start by listening to how it happened and what you're facing now. If you hire us, the insurers can usually deal with us.
We take cases across South Carolina, including Mount Pleasant and the islands. Our office is on King Street in downtown Charleston, and the first conversation can happen by phone.
Walk us through the deck, kitchen, boat or room where it started, and tell us what's still there.
South Carolina Law on This
- Most personal injury claims in South Carolina must be filed within three years.1
- South Carolina's statute of limitations generally sets the deadline for filing a lawsuit in court. Simply opening a claim with an insurance company or negotiating with an insurance adjuster does not stop the statute of limitations from running.2
- Claims against a South Carolina state or local government agency have their own filing deadline, which can be shorter, and there could be caps on damages under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, depending on the facts of the case.3
- Lawsuits under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act generally must be filed within two years after the loss was or should have been discovered. A three-year deadline may apply if a qualifying verified claim was first filed under the Act.4
- Claims against builders, contractors and designers over work on real property can be cut off by a fixed outer time limit that applies no matter when the problem is discovered.5
- South Carolina generally imposes an eight-year outer deadline on lawsuits arising from defective or unsafe improvements to real property, measured from substantial completion of the improvement. Exceptions may apply. This deadline is separate from the ordinary statute of limitations and may prevent some claims even when the problem was discovered later.6
- Most injuries that happen on the job in South Carolina go through the workers' compensation system, which has its own rules, and usually limits suing your own employer.7
- An injured worker in South Carolina generally must tell the employer about a work accident right away, and no later than 90 days after it, to receive workers' compensation, unless an exception applies.8
- A South Carolina workers' compensation claim generally must be filed with the Workers' Compensation Commission within two years after the accident, or after a death it caused. Telling the employer does not count as filing. Occupational diseases and repetitive trauma follow different rules.9
- In South Carolina, an employee injured at work may be able to receive workers' compensation benefits and also pursue a personal injury claim against a responsible third party, such as another driver. The workers' compensation insurer may have a right to reimbursement from any settlement or judgment. Special rules and deadlines apply when pursuing both claims.10
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I hang on to the charger or appliance that caught fire?
Yes, as long as it's safe. Damaged batteries can reignite, so don't move a damaged battery, electrical item or gas appliance until the fire department or another safety professional says how. Keep any cord, charger, box or receipt, and ask a lawyer before giving it to the maker or an insurer or throwing it away.
I got burned working in a restaurant kitchen. What are my options?
Most on-the-job burns in South Carolina go through workers' compensation.7 You generally have to report it to your employer within 90 days and file a claim within two years, though exceptions exist.89 Comp usually limits suing your employer, but a claim against an outside company, like an equipment maker, may be possible.10
The wiring in our older house was put in years ago. Is it too late?
It might be, depending on facts nobody can judge from a web page. Claims against builders, contractors and designers over work on real property can be cut off by a fixed outer limit, however late the problem shows up.5 That's a reason to talk with a lawyer soon after a fire.
Do I need to come downtown while I'm healing?
No. The first conversation can happen by phone. Our office is on King Street in Charleston if you want to meet there later.
Sources
This page is general information about South Carolina law, not legal advice for your situation. Every case depends on its own facts.
