Bronx Burn Injury Lawyers
Burn injuries from apartment fires, construction explosions, and defective products leave victims with some of the most expensive and permanent damage in personal injury law. Frekhtman & Associates has spent 25 years building cases that account for every dollar of that damage, from emergency surgery to long-term reconstruction, against the landlords, contractors, and insurers who caused it.
The Bronx has seen what building negligence looks like at its worst. In January 2022, a malfunctioning space heater at Twin Parks North West in Fordham Heights caused a fire that killed 17 residents, including 8 children, among the deadliest apartment building fires in New York City history. Self-closing doors had failed to close, leaving residents trapped in smoke-filled stairwells. Building code violations kill people. So do defective products, construction site explosions, and chemical exposure on the job. When that negligence causes a burn injury, the costs are staggering. Severe burns without complications average over $1.5 million in treatment. Cases with complications can exceed $10 million. The insurance company representing the responsible party knows those numbers and will fight every dollar of your claim.
Frekhtman & Associates was founded by Bronx Supreme trial attorney Arkady Frekhtman, who has spent 25+ years handling catastrophic injury cases on the Bronx Supreme calendar. The firm works with burn specialists, plastic surgeons, and life care planners to document the full scope of physical and psychological damages, then takes that evidence into litigation against the landlords, manufacturers, and insurers who cause these injuries and minimize what they owe. With $900M+ recovered for injured clients across New York City, including a $69.25 million verdict in a motor vehicle case, the firm has the trial record to back every case it takes.
The numbers behind the name.
- $900M+ recovered for injured clients
- $69.25M largest single recovery in a motor vehicle case
- 25+ years trying cases on the Bronx Supreme calendar
- AVVO 9.9 Rating, National Top 100 Trial Lawyers, AIPIA Ten Best Attorneys
- No fee unless we win
Call our Bronx office at (718) 733-9300 24/7 to find out if you have a case.
Top notch law firm. They represented a family member after a burn injury from an apartment fire. Very thorough.
What Is a Bronx Burn Injury Case Worth?
No two burn injury cases produce the same result, and any attorney who quotes a number before reviewing your medical records and the facts of your case is guessing. What determines value is a combination of factors that experienced burn injury attorneys and their experts work to document and prove.
Factors that increase case value:
- Severity and degree of the burn, third and fourth degree burns involving muscle, bone, or nerve damage command significantly higher verdicts
- Permanence of scarring or disfigurement, particularly to the face, hands, or other visible areas
- Number of surgeries required, including skin grafts and reconstructive procedures
- Future medical costs documented by a life care planner
- Lost earning capacity assessed by a vocational rehabilitation specialist and economist
- Clear liability with a well-funded defendant such as a building owner, corporation, or manufacturer
- Strength of the insurance policy limits available
Factors that can reduce value:
- Shared fault under New York’s comparative negligence rule, which reduces your recovery proportionally
- Gaps in medical treatment or failure to follow doctor recommendations
- Pre-existing conditions affecting the same areas of the body
- Limited insurance coverage with no viable path to excess recovery
Severe burns without complications average over $1.5 million in treatment costs alone. Cases involving complications can exceed $10 million. At Frekhtman & Associates we’ve recovered over $900 million for seriously injured New Yorkers, including cases where insurers initially offered a fraction of what victims were owed.
New York Burn Injury Laws and Filing Deadlines
A Bronx apartment fire victim and a worker burned in an industrial explosion face different legal deadlines, different notice requirements, and different liable parties. The deadline that applies to your case depends entirely on where the injury happened and who caused it. Missing the deadline can dismiss your claim regardless of how severe your injuries are.
Standard personal injury statute of limitations
Under CPLR §214, burn injury victims have three years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit in New York. This applies to most cases involving private property owners, employers, and product manufacturers.
Government-owned property and NYCHA buildings
If your burn injury occurred in a New York City Housing Authority building or any other government-owned property, a much shorter deadline applies. Under General Municipal Law §50-e, you must file a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the injury before any lawsuit can proceed. Given the concentration of NYCHA housing in the Bronx, this deadline catches many victims off guard. Missing it can permanently bar your claim against the city.
Wrongful death from burn injuries
If a loved one died from burn injuries caused by another party’s negligence, the wrongful death claim must be filed within two years of the date of death under EPTL §5-4.1.
Property owner liability Under NYC
Administrative Code §7-210, property owners have a duty to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition. Violations of building and fire codes can establish liability directly.
What Causes Burn Injuries and Who Can Be Held Liable?
Burn injuries happen across a wide range of incidents, and the liable party depends on how and where the injury occurred.
Premises and Building Fires
- Apartment and building fires
- Fires in nightclubs, restaurants, hotels, and malls
- Malfunctioning fire doors or broken fire exits
- Scalding pipes with no insulation
Workplace and Industrial Accidents
- Industrial fires and explosions
Chemical burns and spills - Oil spills and tanker accidents
Overloaded electrical circuits
Vehicle Accidents
- Car and truck accidents involving flammable materials
- Tanker truck fires and gas tank explosions
Defective Products
- Faulty stoves, ovens, furnaces, or boilers
- Electrical outlet and cord fires
- Defective appliances and consumer products
Liability in burn injury cases can fall on a property owner, employer, vehicle operator, or product manufacturer depending on the circumstances. Many cases involve multiple responsible parties.
Burn Injury Damages
Burn injuries are one of the most excruciating and traumatic injuries an individual can sustain often requiring extensive physical therapy, surgeries, and rehabilitative care. A burn injury may leave a permanent disfigurement and scarring. Because a person’s appearance may be severely changed, a loss of identity leads to lasting emotional harm.
Common injuries and damages that a Bronx burn injury attorney can help with include:
- Permanent scarring
- Disfigurement
- Injury to nerves, blood vessels, tissues, muscles, and bones.
- Emotional trauma and damage
- Infections
- Respiratory distress
- Wrongful death
Preventing Burn Injuries
A property owner must keep make tenant safety the highest priority. Some causes of fires which can be prevented include:
- Updating and maintaining electrical wiring for a building
- Sufficient working smoke alarms on the property
- Sprinklers on the property if required by code or local law
- A fire escape in good condition
- Keeping the fire escape free and clear of any obstructions
- Installing fireproof doors
- Keeping fire extinguishers and replacing them; making sure all fire extinguishers are working properly
- Having a fire safety plan
Medical Care and Treatment
In the United States, about fifty thousand burn injury patients require hospitalization with half of those admitted to a burn unit or intensive care unit (“ICU”). The medical treatment necessary after a burn injury depends on the nature of the burn including its degree. For a first degree burn or even a second degree injury, there is sufficient skin tissue for the burn to heal on its own over time.
For a third degree burn, surgery may be needed such as a skin graft which involves taking skin from another healthy part of the body and transferring or grafting it to the affected area. This stimulates new skin to grow in the burned area.
A third degree burn is often catastrophic and may lead to prolonged hospitalization and may sometimes be fatal. A burn may cause a loss of blood to the affected area which results in medical complications including infection, sepsis, shock, gangrene, paralysis, and numerous other severe health issues. Severe burn injuries must be treated at a specialized hospital burn unit. In the Bronx, Jacobi Hospital is a recognized burn center.
Burn centers are especially well equipped with the knowledge, training, technology, and overall expertise to treat severe burn injuries.
The long term effects of a burn injury may also be dire. A permanent burn scar or disfigurement to the face or other uncovered part of the body will affect the individual for life. Burn injuries also lead to emotional and psychological injury. Because burn injuries can be so devastating and the cost of treatment so high, it is imperative to contact an attorney that specializes in litigating burn injury matters.
What to Do Immediately After a Burn Injury in the Bronx
The actions taken in the hours and days after a burn injury directly affect both your health and your legal claim.
Here’s what matters most:
Seek treatment at a recognized burn center. Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx is a recognized burn center equipped to treat severe burns. For serious injuries, do not delay treatment waiting to document the scene. Your health comes first.
Document everything before it disappears.
- Photograph your injuries as soon as possible and continue photographing throughout your recovery
- Photograph the scene including the defective product, fire damage, or hazardous condition that caused the injury
- Preserve any defective products, clothing, or equipment involved in the incident
- Get the names and contact information of any witnesses
Report the incident formally.
- Report building fires or code violations to the New York City Department of Buildings
- Report workplace injuries to your employer in writing immediately
- Request copies of any fire department or police reports
Do not speak to insurance companies. Adjusters representing the property owner, employer, or manufacturer will contact you early. Do not give recorded statements or accept any settlement offers before speaking with an attorney. Initial offers rarely reflect the true cost of a serious burn injury.
Contact a Bronx burn injury attorney as soon as possible. Evidence disappears, witnesses become harder to locate, and the legal deadlines described below continue to run from the date of injury.
Absolute attention to details. Professionally sensitive to my individual present emotion; dealing with the aftermath event which abruptly interrupted the normal course of my life. Tremendous compassion with each conversation regarding my care and immediate needs. Frekhtman & Associates are a truly humane group of professionals. The unleash of true justice from their powerful representation to the victims they serve, is ever mindful 'How valuable and important people's lives are when each are given an opportunity to let justice prevails, even to the bitter end.'
Contacting a Bronx Burn Injury Attorney
Burn injuries are among the most expensive and painful injuries to treat. Skin grafts, reconstructive surgery, infection management, and long-term rehabilitation can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs, and that’s before accounting for lost income, permanent scarring, and the psychological toll of disfigurement.
Frekhtman & Associates represents burn injury victims across the Bronx, from Belmont and Fordham to Co-op City, Pelham Bay, Throggs Neck, and every neighborhood in between. Our Bronx personal injury attorney work with fire safety engineers, plastic surgeons, economists, and vocational rehabilitation specialists to build cases that reflect the true cost of what our clients have been through, and we take those cases to trial when insurers won’t pay what victims deserve.
There’s no fee unless we recover compensation for you. Call our Bronx office at (718) 733-9300 for a free consultation. Our Fight is Your Fight.
Visit our Bronx Office
Frekhtman & Associates
20 E 205th Street
Bronx, NY 10468
Contact For A Free Case Review
While it’s possible to handle a personal injury case on your own, having an experienced attorney by your side significantly increases the likelihood of a favorable outcome. According to studies, victims represented by a personal injury lawyer receive higher settlement amounts compared to those who handle their cases independently. For a free case evaluation: