If you got burned in a restaurant because the owner or a member of staff was negligent, you may be eligible to make a personal injury claim. Similarly, if you work in a restaurant, and you’re burned because of your employer’s negligence, an accident at work claim might be possible. In this guide to claiming compensation after suffering burns in a restaurant, we’ll look at the different scenarios that could result in restaurant burns, how the claims process works, and what level of compensation could be paid out.

If you are seeking damages because you’ve been burned in a restaurant, we can help. We provide a no-obligation assessment of any personal injury claim. Your advisor will go through everything with you and then offer free advice on your options. If it appears that there are grounds to proceed, we’ll refer you to one of our personal injury solicitors. Importantly, you won’t have to pay their fees unless you receive compensation as they provide a No Win No Fee service.

We are ready to help you if you’d like to start a burn injury claim. Please call the number at the top of the page to start the ball rolling. Alternatively, please read on to learn more about the claims process.

Am I Eligible To Claim If I Was Burned At A Restaurant?

There are no two ways around it – solicitors cannot provide No Win No Fee claims in all circumstances. To do so would be risky as they only get paid if their client is compensated. Therefore, if you are burned at a restaurant and want a personal injury solicitor to help, they will check that:

• The restaurant owed you a duty of care (this would be the case if you were a customer or an employee); and
• Some form of negligence by the restaurant led to an accident; and
• You were burned or suffered other injuries as a result.

If all of the above appears to be true in your case, you could be eligible to take legal action to claim compensation. As part of our free claim assessment service, the advisor will check through everything with you to see if you’re eligible to proceed. In the section that follows, we’ll review what forms of negligence by a restaurant could entitle you to claim for a burn injury. However, before we move on, let’s look at how you could prove what happened.

Evidence Proving How You Got Burned At A Restaurant

If you’re going to sue a restaurant for burn injuries, you will need to demonstrate how you were burned, the severity of your burrs, and who was at fault. To do this, you could:

• Take video/pictures at the scene of the accident. Video/photographs can make it a lot easier for others to see what happened.
• Report the accident to restaurant staff. By law, employers and businesses must record incidents in an accident report book (or software). Legally, you can request a copy. This is something that will make it hard for the restaurant to deny the accident took place.
• Get medical treatment. Rather than relying just on first aid, it’s a good idea to have any burn injuries treated at A&E. As well as helping your injuries to recover, your medical records following the visit could be used to show how serious your burn injuries were.
• Ask for CCTV footage. Some restaurants have security cameras in the dining area. If that’s the case, request a copy of any footage that captured your accident.
• Make a note of any witnesses. Finally, where possible, write down the contact details of others who saw what happened. If your solicitor needs extra evidence, they could be contacted for a statement.

Please feel free to ask us to review the evidence you’ve gathered by calling our team of specialists today on 0800 6524 881.

Common Causes Of Burns In A Restaurant

Let’s take a look at a few examples of where burn injuries in restaurants could lead to a compensation claim. For customers, they could include:

• Where waiting staff drop hot food over you following a slip or trip causing first or second-degree burns.
• If food is cooked at your table and flames from the cooking implement burn you.
• Where you’ve suffered burns from a hot drink/s being spilled over part of your body when they’re being transferred to the table.
• If you trip or fall whilst carrying food or drink due to a loose carpet, for example.

For restaurant staff, you may be able to claim if:

• You were burned and injured as catering staff because you’d not been trained how to use a particular piece of equipment.
• Personal Protective Equipment was not provided.
• An oven or hob was known to be faulty and not repaired leading to you being burned.

This NHS article explains what first aid can help with burns or scalds and when they should be treated at a hospital.

Please call us today or use live chat if you got burned at a restaurant and are contemplating starting a claim.

How Much Compensation For Being Burned At A Restaurant Could I Claim?

If you have been burned at a restaurant, how much compensation you could receive isn’t a pre-determined amount. Instead of asking for a lump sum of money to compensate you, a more methodical approach is required. It requires evidence and justification for any compensation you ask for. Usually, your solicitor will base the claim on two heads of loss:

• General damages. This is how you claim for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity caused by your injuries. The severity of your injuries will be determined by an independent medical assessment.
• Special damages. Here your claim moves on to expenses, costs or monetary losses caused by your injuries. For example, you could claim for travel expenses caused by hospital visits or for any lost income.

We will happily review what you could include in your restaurant burn injury claim when you call our free advice line.

Compensation Amounts For Burns

To give you some idea of what compensation could be claimed for being burned at a restaurant, we’ve added some example figures below. When solicitors or courts set settlement figures, they refer to the Judicial College guidelines for general damages. Therefore, we’ve used those figures below.

• Burns that cause scarring to the chest, the back, a leg/s, a hand/s, an arm/s – £7,830 to £22,730.
• Very severe facial scarring – £29,780 to £97,330.
• Less severe facial scarring – £17,960 to £48,420.
• Significant facial scarring – £9,110 to £30,090.
• Less significant facial scarring – £3,950 to £13,740.
• Minor facial scarring – £1,710 to £3,530.

It’s worth noting that claim amounts vary from case to case. As a result, please use these figures for reference as the amount you might receive for body or facial scars or other injuries could be more or less than the figures listed.

Personal Injury Claim Time Limits

When claiming for an accident at work or a personal injury, you will need to be aware of the claim time limits. In most cases, this will be 3-years from the date that the burn injuries happened.

There is an exception to this rule for claims involving children (under 18 years old). In this case, a parent or guardian is able to use the litigation friend process to claim on behalf of the child. In this scenario, the 3-year limitation period does not apply.

We would suggest that you should begin your claim as soon as possible. There is a lot of work that your solicitor needs to do before sending the claim to the restaurant. By beginning early, they’ll have ample time to gather evidence, arrange for medical reports, and deal with the other tasks associated with claiming if you’ve been burned at a restaurant.

Benefits Of Using A Solicitor To Claim Against A Restaurant For Burns

When claiming against a restaurant for burns, you’ll usually end up dealing with an insurer who won’t want to pay as much as you’d like to receive. However, with the help of a personal injury solicitor, you could improve your chances of being paid the proper level of compensation.

If your claim is taken on, your solicitor will try to shield you from any complex legal or medical questions. They’ll deal with the restaurant’s insurers on your behalf throughout the claim but you’ll be kept up to date as the case progresses.

Wherever possible, your solicitor will always try to settle the claim amicably. However, if there are any objections raised over liability, they’ll fight your corner to try and counter them.

To begin the claims process today, why not call our team on 0800 6524 881 and ask for free advice? If your claim appears to have a reasonable chance of success, we’ll pass it to one of our personal injury solicitors. Remember, any compensation claim for getting burned at a restaurant that is accepted will be processed on a No Win No Fee basis.