Tyler Burn Injury Lawyers

Tyler burn cases come from the oil and gas operations working across Smith County and the surrounding East Texas region, from kitchen and house fires, and from vehicle fires after a crash. The city has the region’s burn unit, UT Health Tyler’s East Texas Burn Center on South Beckham Avenue inside a Level I trauma center, so a Tyler burn patient can be treated in town, and CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital on East Dawson Street takes trauma as a Level II center. The Tyler Police Department or the Smith County Sheriff’s Office writes the incident or crash report. A suit is filed with the Smith County District Clerk on North Broadway and heard in the Smith County District Court, the 114th. Trey Morris Injury Lawyers requests that report, sends preservation letters to whoever controlled the site or the vehicle, and pulls the admission notes and TBSA charting from the East Texas Burn Center. Those letters go out once the facts give us an honest basis to send them, because moving as fast as the law permits is how burn evidence gets kept and found. Each letter asks the recipient to keep the equipment, appliance or vehicle that caught fire in its burned condition, along with its maintenance and inspection records, because that is what shows what ignited and why, and what rules out other causes.

Texas law governs the claim, and it reads the same in Smith County as anywhere else in the state. A Tyler burn injury is a two-year filing under CPRC Section 16.003(a), and a claimant found 51% or more at fault under CPRC Chapter 33 recovers nothing. Trey Morris Injury Lawyers values the file from burn depth, TBSA, and grafting records.

Burn Injury Classification: First Through Fourth Degree and TBSA

first-degree burn

A burn that affects only the outer layer of skin (epidermis). Causes redness and pain. No blistering. Heals without grafting. Sunburn is the most common example.

Depth classification runs from first degree through fourth degree. A first-degree burn affects only the outer skin layer and heals without medical intervention. A second-degree burn reaches into the dermis, causes intense pain and blistering, and may require grafting if deep. Third-degree burns destroy the full thickness of the skin, killing nerve endings and creating a leathery or waxy appearance. Fourth-degree burns extend into muscle, bone, or tendon. They are the most severe and typically require amputation of the affected area.

TBSA

Total Body Surface Area. A calculation of what percentage of the body’s skin surface is burned. Medical teams use the Rule of Nines: each arm = 9%, each leg = 18%, the torso front = 18%, torso back = 18%, head = 9%, genitalia = 1%. TBSA drives fluid resuscitation calculations, burn center admission criteria, and life care projections.

TBSA is the second critical metric. The Rule of Nines assigns percentages to body regions to calculate extent. Second and third-degree burns covering more than 10% TBSA in adults, or 5% TBSA in children, meet the threshold for burn center admission. TBSA drives fluid resuscitation volumes, surgical planning, and the total damage picture in a legal case.

Inhalation injury is a separate and serious complication. Breathing smoke or superheated gases damages the airways independently of surface burns. It worsens prognosis significantly and requires bronchoscopy to diagnose. An attorney evaluating your case needs to know whether inhalation injury is documented, because it affects life expectancy projections and the life care plan.

Electrical burns are often underestimated. They enter at one point and exit at another. The real damage occurs along the path the current traveled through the body: heart, kidneys, muscles, and nerves. Surface wounds may look minor while internal damage is severe. Arc flash injuries produce a burst of thermal energy that causes contact burns without the current passing through the body. The distinction between contact electrical burns and arc flash injuries matters for identifying the liable party.

Chemical burns progress as long as the agent remains in contact with tissue. Alkaline burns (lye, cement) penetrate more deeply than acidic burns because they do not trigger the protein coagulation that limits acid penetration. Contact time and concentration determine depth. Irrigation must be immediate and prolonged. If your employer failed to provide proper decontamination resources, that delay in treatment is a separate element of your damages.

Learn more about catastrophic injury claims

Treatment: Debridement, Skin Grafting, and the Surgical Timeline

Severe burn treatment is not a single procedure. It is a months-long surgical process.

Debridement

Removal of dead, infected, or damaged tissue from a burn wound to allow healthy tissue to heal. Surgical debridement (tangential excision) is the gold standard for major burns. It is performed under anesthesia, repeated as needed, and is a prerequisite for skin grafting.

Debridement is the first step. Dead tissue must be removed before the wound can heal or be grafted. Surgical debridement (tangential excision) removes thin layers of tissue until viable bleeding tissue is reached. It is performed within 24-72 hours for major burns and repeated at intervals. The process is significant in duration and recovery.

Skin grafting replaces the removed tissue with new skin. An autograft uses the patient’s own skin harvested from an unburned donor site: the thigh, back, or scalp. An allograft uses cadaver skin as a temporary covering while the donor site heals. Synthetic skin substitutes (Integra, Biobrane) provide a scaffold when donor sites are limited. The choice of graft type depends on TBSA size, available donor sites, and patient condition. Graft selection affects life care plan projections and the damage calculation, which is why a plastic surgeon or burn surgeon typically serves as a consulting expert.

In the Tyler area, UT Health Tyler’s East Texas Burn Center at 1000 S. Beckham Ave. is the regional burn center for East Texas. Christus Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler is the other major trauma facility in Smith County. Where your care occurs matters for a legal case. Records from a designated burn center carry more weight in establishing the severity of your injury.

Fluid resuscitation in the first 24 hours is governed by the Parkland formula: 4 mL multiplied by the percentage of TBSA multiplied by body weight in kilograms. Inadequate resuscitation causes kidney failure. Over-resuscitation causes pulmonary edema. Both are documented complications that can indicate a hospital care standard-of-care violation. If you believe your care at the initial treating facility was inadequate, that is a separate claim worth evaluating.

After grafting, recovery continues for years. Contracture is scar tissue tightening across joints. It requires occupational therapy, custom splinting, and often additional surgery (Z-plasty or scar release procedures). Compression garments are worn 23 hours a day for 12-18 months to minimize hypertrophic scarring. Facial burns, hand burns, and eyelid injuries typically require staged reconstructive procedures over 1-3 years. Your life care plan must document all of this. A plan that only projects the initial hospitalization significantly undervalues the case.

Infection, Sepsis, and Systemic Complications

Burn injuries destroy the skin barrier. That barrier is the body’s primary defense against infection. The resulting vulnerability to infection is not a minor risk. It is the leading cause of death in hospitalized burn patients after the first 72 hours.

Sepsis

A life-threatening systemic response to infection. The body’s immune response becomes dysregulated and begins damaging its own tissues and organs. In burn patients, sepsis is defined by specific criteria including temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, and white blood cell count. It requires ICU-level treatment and carries a significant mortality rate.

Sepsis develops when a localized wound infection spreads to the bloodstream. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus are the most common burn wound pathogens. Both are capable of rapid systemic spread.

MODS

Multi-Organ Dysfunction Syndrome. Progressive failure of two or more organ systems following a major physiological insult such as severe burns and sepsis. Involves kidneys, lungs, liver, and cardiovascular system. Significantly increases mortality and long-term care needs.

Toxic shock syndrome, fungal infections (Candida), and pneumonia are additional complications requiring extended ICU management. MODS develops when systemic infection overwhelms multiple organ systems simultaneously. Major burns also suppress the immune system, which is why infection risk remains elevated for weeks after the initial injury.

The legal relevance of these complications is direct. Every additional week of ICU care increases past medical expenses. Every organ system affected changes the life care plan. If a burn victim dies from sepsis, the standard of care at every facility that treated them becomes relevant to a wrongful death claim. A burn care expert assesses whether the treating facilities met the standard of care, and that determination may add a medical negligence claim to the personal injury case. View wrongful death claims

Representative Results

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$409 Million Wrongful Death

A tragic case where an impaired driver of a commercial vehicle ran a red light, then collided with our client, causing serious bodily injury to the mother and the loss of life of her daughter.

$49 Million Motor Vehicle Accident

An impaired driver of a stolen vehicle driving the wrong way collided with our client head-on, resulting in brain injury and multiple broken bones.

$32,195,000 Industrial / Workplace

Failure to maintain proper safety protocols led to an explosion at an industrial plant causing a series of catastrophic injuries from broken bones, burns, spinal injury, and mental anguish.

$31.5 Million Industrial / Workplace

Brain and spinal injuries followed an oil-field company failing to maintain equipment and provide a safe work site.

$17.25 Million Commercial Vehicle Accident

Client was struck head-on by a disconnected load of an 18-wheeler that crossed the median causing broken bones and amputation.

$13 Million Commercial Vehicle Accident

On the interstate, an 18-wheeler failed to yield right of way then made an unsafe lane change causing the accident which resulted in major bone breaks, damaged organs, and ultimately a leg amputation.

$12.1 Million Motor Vehicle Accident

A commercial vehicle failed to stop at a red light subsequently crashing into our client causing serious brain injury and permanent loss of function.

$7 Million Motor Vehicle Accident

When the other vehicle struck our client, the result was a major hemorrhage and a stroke.

$7 Million Commercial Vehicle Accident

An 18-wheeler cut across traffic on an illegal left turn and hit our client, who suffered neck and back injuries.

$6.25 Million Motor Vehicle Accident

A fatigued commercial-vehicle driver fell asleep at the wheel and rear-ended our client, leaving our client with severe neck and back injuries.

$4.95 Million Wrongful Death

A hydraulic line exploded at a job site, taking the life of our client's loved one.

$4 Million Commercial Vehicle Accident

Our client's vehicle was struck by the at-fault vehicle, resulting in neck and back injuries.

$3.3 Million Motor Vehicle Accident

Motor vehicle collision. Details not publicly disclosed.

$3.25 Million Commercial Vehicle Accident

Commercial vehicle collision. Details not publicly disclosed.

$3.2 Million Commercial Vehicle Accident

While our client was stopped, the at-fault driver rear-ended our client's vehicle and set it on fire, leaving our client seriously hurt.

$3.15 Million Wrongful Death

An 18-wheeler caused a fatal collision that took the life of our client's loved one.

$3 Million Commercial Vehicle Accident

A commercial vehicle struck and killed our client's loved one, who was on foot.

$3 Million Motor Vehicle Accident

Out on the highway, the at-fault driver hit our client.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes; each case is decided on its own facts. See our full case results.

Economic and Noneconomic Damages in a Texas Burn Injury Case

Texas law divides damages into economic and noneconomic categories. Both are fully recoverable in non-medical-malpractice burn injury cases.

Texas limits recovery of medical expenses to amounts actually paid or incurred, not the full billed list price. This comes from CPRC Section 41.0105 as interpreted in Haygood v. De Escabedo, 356 S.W.3d 390 (Tex. 2011). If your health insurer negotiated a reduced rate, you recover the negotiated amount, not the chargemaster rate. This distinction matters significantly when preparing demand packages.

Loss of Earning Capacity

The difference between what a person could have earned over their working lifetime before the injury and what they can earn after it. Calculated by a vocational rehabilitation expert (who identifies what jobs the person can now perform) working with a forensic economist (who converts future lost earnings to present value). This is separate from lost wages, which covers earnings already missed.

Loss of Earning Capacity is calculated by vocational experts and forensic economists. Hand burns, facial disfigurement, and pulmonary damage from inhalation injury frequently prevent return to prior employment. A life care plan for a working-age adult with extensive TBSA burns routinely projects future costs in the millions.

Noneconomic damages include pain and suffering, mental anguish, and physical impairment. Texas also recognizes disfigurement as a separate and distinct noneconomic harm. Burn scars on the face, neck, and hands carry independent legal value above and beyond pain and suffering. Texas does not cap noneconomic damages in non-medical-malpractice personal injury cases. Full recovery is available.

Loss of Consortium

A legal claim available to the spouse of an injured person for the loss of companionship, affection, physical intimacy, and household services caused by the injury. It is a separate damage claim from the injured person’s own damages and is brought by the spouse in the same lawsuit.

The spouse of a severely burned person has a Loss of Consortium claim for loss of companionship and household services. This is a separate element that belongs in your damage calculation from the beginning.

View car accident cases involving burns

Exemplary Damages for Gross Negligence: Chemical, Electrical, and Product Defect Burns

Texas allows exemplary damages when the defendant’s conduct rises above ordinary negligence. The standard is gross negligence.

Under CPRC Section 41.001(7), gross negligence is defined as an act or omission that involves an extreme degree of risk, and where the defendant had actual, subjective awareness of the risk but proceeded with conscious indifference to the rights, safety, or welfare of others.

Chemical burn cases frequently support gross negligence claims. An employer who fails to provide proper personal protective equipment for known corrosive chemical exposures, fails to maintain OSHA-required Safety Data Sheets for hazardous substances, or stores incompatible chemicals in violation of hazard communication standards has documented knowledge of the risk. Deviating from it anyway, particularly after prior incidents, is the factual pattern courts examine for gross negligence.

Electrical burns have their own standard. OSHA 1910.333 requires that equipment be de-energized and locked out before maintenance or servicing. Arc flash incidents on energized equipment are a predictable consequence of skipping lockout/tagout. Employers and contractors who skip these protocols know exactly what the risk is. That documented awareness is what separates gross negligence from ordinary negligence.

Product defect burns create a different path. Strict product liability under CPRC Chapter 82 allows recovery without proving the manufacturer was negligent. But when a manufacturer knew of a defect from prior incidents, failure analyses, or regulatory notices and continued selling the product anyway, the same facts that prove strict liability may also support exemplary damages. Prior recall notices, internal quality reports, and engineering documentation are the evidence to pursue.

Exemplary Damages

Texas term for punitive damages. Available under CPRC Chapter 41 when the defendant acted with fraud, malice, or gross negligence. Require proof by clear and convincing evidence (higher standard than the preponderance standard used for compensatory damages). Capped under CPRC 41.008 at the greater of: (a) two times economic damages plus noneconomic damages up to $750,000, or (b) $200,000. The cap does not apply to certain felony conduct.

Exemplary Damages are capped under CPRC Section 41.008. The cap does not apply when the conduct constitutes a felony, such as deliberate assault.

Establishing the defendant’s subjective awareness of risk requires specific factual proof: prior complaints, safety audits, incident reports. A burn case built only on negligence theory may leave significant damages on the table if gross negligence facts are present.

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Your Tyler Injury Attorneys

Founder Trey Morris leads every injury case the firm takes.

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  Trey Morris

  Owner

Proportionate Responsibility and Liability in Burn Cases

Texas uses a proportionate responsibility system. Under CPRC Chapter 33, the jury assigns each party a percentage of responsibility. Your recovery is reduced by your own percentage of fault. If you are 51% or more at fault, you recover nothing. At exactly 50%, you recover 50% of your damages.

Defense attorneys in burn cases routinely try to push your fault percentage above 50%. Common arguments include: you misused the product, you ignored safety warnings, you failed to wear PPE you were given, you were intoxicated, or a co-worker’s actions (not the employer’s) caused the accident. Each of these is a standard defense narrative. An experienced burn injury attorney needs a documented rebuttal for each one before your case reaches a jury.

Proportionate Responsibility

Texas’s fault allocation system under CPRC Chapter 33. The jury assigns a percentage of fault to each party, including the plaintiff. If the plaintiff is 51% or more at fault, the plaintiff recovers nothing. At 50% or less, the plaintiff recovers damages reduced by their own percentage. Only defendants with more than 50% responsibility face joint and several liability.

Workplace burn injuries involve a separate complexity. When an employer subscribes to Texas workers’ compensation, the workers’ comp system provides the exclusive remedy against the employer. You cannot sue the employer directly in civil court. But you can sue third parties: equipment manufacturers, subcontractors, chemical suppliers. If your employer does not subscribe to workers’ comp, they lose the three defenses of contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and fellow servant doctrine. Non-subscriber cases typically proceed with a lower burden for the plaintiff.

Trey Morris Injury Lawyers’ approach to proportionate responsibility disputes starts at the evidence-gathering stage. We work with liability experts who examine the physical evidence, the incident report, the OSHA record, and the employer’s safety program. The percentage of fault assigned to you at trial reflects what was documented before trial.

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Testimonials do not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction regarding the outcome of your legal matter. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

What Is the Deadline to File a Burn Injury Lawsuit in Texas?

Texas gives you two years to file a personal injury lawsuit. Under CPRC Section 16.003(a), the clock starts on the date of injury. For most burn accidents, accrual is the date of the accident. The injury is not hidden. The discovery rule extends the deadline only when an injury was inherently undiscoverable through reasonable diligence. That is rare for burns.

Tolling rules apply in specific situations. Under CPRC Section 16.001, limitations are tolled for minors. A child injured at age 10 has until age 20 to file. The disability must exist at the time the cause of action accrues. A disability arising after accrual does not pause the clock.

Product liability burn cases have an additional consideration. CPRC Section 16.012 imposes a 15-year repose period running from the date the product was first sold. A case involving a product manufactured and sold more than 15 years ago may be time-barred against the manufacturer even if the 2-year personal injury limitation has not run.

The 2-year deadline is shorter than it sounds for severe burn survivors. Hospitalization for major TBSA burns routinely lasts weeks to months. Rehabilitation follows. By the time a burn survivor is medically stable enough to think about legal options, a significant portion of the limitation period may have elapsed. Building a burn injury case requires retaining burn care experts, life care planners, and forensic economists. That process takes time. Contacting an attorney as early as medically practical is the right approach.

Oilfield and industrial burns in East Texas carry specific evidence preservation priorities. Smith County and the surrounding East Texas region has active oil and gas operations. Burns from blowouts, flash fires, and hydrogen sulfide exposure involve OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) regulations. OSHA conducts inspections after serious incidents and produces reports documenting compliance failures. Those reports must be obtained through formal records requests and can be critical evidence for a gross negligence claim. Product recall records, OSHA 300 logs, chemical SDS sheets, and incident reports should be preserved by legal hold as soon as possible.

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