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Restaurant Food Burns: 5 Factors That May Impact Your Case

Enjoying a night out to eat can easily be hampered due to a personal injury. One of the more common injuries you may come across at a restaurant is a food burn injury. Food burns can occur in your mouth and other parts of your body if the food is spilled. If you're seeking compensation for your injuries and emotional damage, then there are several factors in the case to the consider. By consulting with a personal injury lawyer, you can determine how the burns and specific situation can help build your case.

Incident Reports

When the burns first occurred, many restaurants may have you fill out an incident report. This is a personal report that restaurants keep on file to help track various injuries. The details in this report are important in your case because they will likely be brought up again and could even be used against you if the restaurant feels like you changed your story. If you have a copy of the incident report or took images of it for your own record, then a lawyer can look through the various details and help you use them for the case. If your burns forced immediate treatment, another person in your dinner party may have filled out the report. If this is the case, then the witness statement could be used to help prove your case and reach a proper settlement.

Waitstaff Mistakes

In many cases, determining a settlement is about deciding who is at fault. In the case of burn injuries, many times you will be blamed for burning yourself. Sometimes the waitstaff is to blame for the incident and you can work with your attorney to prove this. Negligence on the waitstaff can be proven if the staff member did not warn you about a hot plate or hot food. It can also be shown if the waitstaff tripped and spilled out food onto you and caused the burns. Even without a tripping incident, a waitstaff member may hand you a plate that you grab, drop, and burn yourself with because it was not properly handed over. These small details can all impact a case and change the outcome.

Restaurant Cleanliness

Sometimes a restaurant's cleanliness may lead to burn injuries. For example, if there is debris under the table you are sitting at, you can slip on it, step on it, and get distracted by it. This could lead you to knock a hot item over and receive burns in the process. If the restaurant did not properly clean the seating area before you arrived, they could be held liable for the injuries.

The conditions of the tables, chairs, or booths could be a factor in the case as well. For example, if a chair is wobbly, the unbalanced legs could cause you to mishandle a bowl of hot soup and spill it on your lap. An attorney can use expert witnesses to examine the restaurant conditions and see how they affected the course of your injury.

Dishware Conditions

The dishware at the restaurant that you eat with could also impact the way you are injured and burned. For example, you may order coffee in a mug. If the mug handle snaps off and the coffee spills, your burns are to blame on the poor condition of the mug. The same concept can apply to burns from broken bowls, cups, or plates. An attorney will attempt to collect these items to use as evidence and reach a proper settlement for your burn injuries.

Food Preparation

The food itself may be too hot to serve. Any type of liquid served at around 140 degrees Fahrenheit could result in third-degree burns when it is applied to the skin. If your food was prepared too hot, the restaurant could be held liable for unsafe conditions. This not only includes serving the food, but in self-serve restaurants like a buffet. The food available in a buffet line should not exceed high temperatures that could result in burns. Attorneys can have medical exams done on your burns to determine the temperature of the food or liquid when it came into contact with your body.

Remembering the small details of the incident can really help with your case and moving forward to get a settlement. It's also important to track your healing and different ways that the burns have impacted your life. An attorney can use these details to properly build a case.

For more information, visit websites like http://caminezlaw.net.

About Me

Talking About Family Court Proceedings

Hello, my name is Bridget Waller. Welcome to my site about family court proceedings. My involvement in family court was not a welcome one. Despite the difficulties experienced during that time, I focused on building my knowledge about family court proceedings rather than let the process bring me down. I created this site to share my knowledge with you all, in hopes that I can help others navigate family court proceedings with ease. I will explore every phase of the court process in great detail to help others better understand the proceedings. Please come by my site regularly to learn more. Thanks.

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