California Burn Injury Lawyer

By Michael Shemtoub, trial attorney, Beverly Law. Updated November 2026.

This page collects the California rules that decide most burn cases, the state’s burn centers, and the hazards behind the burns we see here. For the medicine of burn depth and how burn claims are valued, start with our burn injury lawyer guide.

California burn injury law at a glance

The two-year deadline and the six-month claim

Most California burn lawsuits must be filed within two years under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. That window covers scald, fire, chemical and electrical burns caused by a business, landlord, driver or product maker. Two years sounds long, but serious burn patients often spend the first months in a burn unit and in surgery, and evidence such as drive-thru video, cups, lids and appliance parts disappears fast.

When a public entity is involved, the clock is much shorter. A claim for personal injury against a city, county, school district, transit agency or the State of California has to be presented in writing within six months after the cause of action accrues, which is usually the day of the injury (Gov. Code § 911.2). Examples include a burn from a malfunctioning heater in a county building, a fire in public housing, or a crash with a city vehicle that ends in a vehicle fire. If the six months pass, section 911.4 allows a written application for leave to present a late claim, but it must be made within a reasonable time and never later than one year after the claim accrued, and it must explain the delay.

Once the agency rejects the claim and mails or delivers written notice, the lawsuit must be filed within six months of that notice (Gov. Code § 945.6). One exception matters to burn patients treated at university hospitals: the claim-presentation rules in this part of the Government Code do not apply to the Regents of the University of California (Gov. Code § 905.6).

For a burned child, the general deadline is paused until the child turns 18 (CCP § 352). That pause does not apply to claims against a public entity or public employee, so a child burned on public property still needs the six-month claim.

If you were partly at fault

California follows pure comparative fault. The state Supreme Court in Li v. Yellow Cab Co. replaced the old all-or-nothing rule, so a jury now reduces the award by the injured person’s percentage of fault instead of barring the claim. A driver who was 30% responsible for a spill still recovers 70% of the damages.

This matters in hot drink cases, where the defense often argues the customer held the cup wrong or opened the lid. Temperature is still the core question. The American Burn Association’s scald table shows water at 155°F can cause a third-degree burn in adult skin in about one second (ABA scald guide), so a small spill of a very hot drink can do lasting harm.

Punitive damages in California

California allows punitive damages only when the injured person proves by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with oppression, fraud or malice (Civ. Code § 3294). Ordinary carelessness is not enough. Section 3294 also limits when a company pays punitive damages for an employee’s conduct: for a corporation, an officer, director or managing agent must have known in advance that the employee was unfit and kept employing them with conscious disregard of others’ safety, authorized or ratified the conduct, or personally acted with oppression, fraud or malice. In burn cases, the question is usually what managers knew about prior burns, temperature complaints or a failing piece of equipment.

Burned at work in California

For an injury on the job, workers’ compensation is generally the only remedy against the employer (Lab. Code § 3602(a)). Section 3602(b) lists narrow exceptions, including a willful physical assault by the employer and an injury caused by a defective product the employer manufactured and sold to others. When the injury results from the serious and willful misconduct of the employer or a managing officer, the comp award is increased by one-half (Lab. Code § 4553).

A comp claim does not end your right to sue anyone other than the employer (Lab. Code § 3852). In refinery, warehouse and kitchen burns, those third parties can include a contractor, the property owner, or the maker of a fryer, valve or pressure vessel. Where a worker’s eyes or body may contact a corrosive substance, Cal/OSHA requires eyewash and emergency shower equipment that meets the ANSI Z358.1 standard, placed no more than 10 seconds away, and says water hoses, sink faucets and showers are not acceptable eyewash facilities (8 CCR § 5162). A violation can be evidence in a third-party case.

Nursing home and elder scalds

When an elder is scalded in a bath or shower at a care facility, California’s Elder Abuse Act can apply. Neglect includes the failure to protect an elder from health and safety hazards (Welf. & Inst. Code § 15610.57), and proof of recklessness, oppression, fraud or malice opens added remedies, including attorney’s fees (§ 15657). Our nursing home abuse section covers those cases.

California’s burn centers

The American Burn Association’s directory lists 12 burn centers in California. Nine are ABA-verified and three appear under “Other Burn Centers” (ABA directory). The California Emergency Medical Services Authority’s list, updated December 2, 2025, shows which centers are verified for adults, children or both, and which are designated by a local EMS agency instead (EMSA list).

UCLA Health took over the West Hills unit, formerly the Grossman Burn Center, when it acquired West Hills Hospital in spring 2024 (UCLA Health). A separate Grossman Burn Center at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital was scheduled to close on June 30, 2026 (Dignity Health notice; Becker’s Hospital Review), and it no longer appears in the ABA directory. Addresses and the ABA referral criteria are on our burn center directory.

California burn hazards and documented incidents

Refineries. On August 6, 2012, a pipe ruptured in the crude unit at Chevron’s Richmond refinery. Nineteen workers were engulfed in the vapor cloud and about 15,000 residents sought medical treatment (U.S. Chemical Safety Board). On February 18, 2015, an explosion in a gasoline processing unit at the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance left two workers with minor injuries and dispersed debris into the surrounding community (CSB).

Wildfires. During the Camp Fire in Butte County on November 8 and 9, 2018, five firefighters suffered serious burns in two separate accidents (Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center). In the January 2025 Los Angeles fires, four patients were treated for severe burns at the West Hills burn center and one at LA General (Los Angeles Times report via The Spokesman-Review).

Gas lines and water heaters. On September 9, 2010, a PG&E transmission line ruptured in a San Bruno neighborhood, killing eight people and destroying 38 homes (NTSB). The California Public Utilities Commission later imposed penalties and remedies totaling $1.6 billion (CPUC). Inside homes, state law requires every residential water heater to be braced, anchored or strapped against earthquake motion, and a seller must certify in writing that it complies (Health & Safety Code § 19211).

Home fires. In 2020, California fire departments reporting to the State Fire Marshal’s CalStats system logged 9,818 residential structure fires with 354 civilian injuries and 99 civilian deaths. The State Fire Marshal notes the figures cover only departments that submitted data (OSFM CalStats 2020). Death-certificate data compiled by the U.S. Fire Administration counted 264 fire deaths in California in 2023 (USFA). More figures are on our burn statistics page.

Hot drinks. In Michael Garcia v. Starbucks Corp., Los Angeles Superior Court case 20STCV10214, a jury awarded $50 million on March 14, 2025 to a delivery driver burned by a hot tea at a drive-through (CVN; ABC7). On June 4, 2025 the judge denied Starbucks’ motions for a new trial or a reduced judgment (Courthouse News). Starbucks said it would appeal, but the case settled in June 2025 and was dismissed in July 2025; the terms were not made public (LASC case summary). Our Garcia v. Starbucks page explains the case.

Burn injury pages for California cities

• Los Angeles burn injury lawyer
• Orange County burn injury lawyer
• Bakersfield burn injury lawyer
• Riverside burn injury lawyer
• Fresno burn injury lawyer
• San Bernardino burn injury lawyer

Burned in another state? See the Texas and Washington pages, or our firm’s California page for other injury cases.

Talk to a California burn injury lawyer

If someone else caused your burn or your child’s in California, call Beverly Law at (310) 552-6959 before the six-month government claim window or the two-year deadline runs. The case review is free and confidential, in English or Spanish, and our office is at 4929 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 960, Los Angeles. You owe no fees or costs unless we win.

Common questions

Related pages

Burn Injury Lawyer

Important: This page is general information, not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different; talk to a lawyer about yours. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou. Last reviewed: November 6, 2026.