Michigan Burn Injury Lawyer: Your Rights After a Burn

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

What to do after a burn in Michigan

Get to the right hospital. The American Burn Association recommends immediate burn center consultation for deep burns of the face, hands, feet, genitals or joints, for all chemical burns and for high-voltage electrical injuries (ABA referral guidelines). Michigan has six centers in the ABA directory, including a pediatric center in Detroit.

Keep a record from the start. Take dated photos. Hold on to the clothing and whatever device was involved, and do not let a landlord haul it away. If a road or public building played a part, note the exact spot, because government notice periods here are short.

Before you sign an insurer’s paperwork or give a recorded statement, talk with a lawyer.

The deadline to file in Michigan

Michigan has no common-law discovery rule. A claim accrues when the wrong is done, regardless of when damage results (MCL 600.5827). In Trentadue v. Buckler Automatic Lawn Sprinkler Co., 479 Mich 378 (2007), the state Supreme Court held that the statutory scheme is exclusive. So the date of the incident usually starts the clock, even when the full extent of the injury becomes clear later.

Government claims move faster. The 6-month State deadline covers personal injury and property damage; other claims get 1 year. For a highway defect, such as a crash on a broken road that ends in a vehicle fire, a minor gets 180 days from the injury, and a person physically or mentally unable to give notice gets 180 days after the disability ends (MCL 691.1404).

How fault works in Michigan

Michigan’s rule is modified comparative fault, set out in MCL 600.2959. Damages are reduced by the injured person’s percentage of fault. If that percentage is greater than the combined fault of everyone else, the court still awards economic damages reduced by that percentage, but noneconomic damages are not awarded.

Say a tenant pulls the battery from a chirping smoke alarm, and weeks later a fire starts in wiring the landlord had been told to fix. If a jury puts 40% of the fault on the tenant, the whole award drops by 40%. At 60%, the tenant recovers only economic damages, cut by 60%.

Damages and caps in Michigan

Punitive damages generally are not available in Michigan. Courts allow exemplary damages only as compensation for the “humiliation, sense of outrage, and indignity” resulting from injuries “maliciously, wilfully and wantonly” inflicted (Kewin v. Massachusetts Mutual, 409 Mich 401 (1980); Rafferty v. Markovitz, 461 Mich 265 (1999)).

Medical malpractice has its own limit on noneconomic damages:

The statutory base is $280,000 and $500,000, adjusted every year by the State Treasurer for CPI under MCL 600.1483 (Treasury notice, January 2026).

Burns at work in Michigan

Workers’ compensation benefits are the exclusive remedy against the employer. The only exception is an intentional tort, which requires a deliberate act by the employer and a specific intent to injure. That intent is deemed present when the employer had actual knowledge an injury was certain to occur and willfully disregarded it (MCL 418.131(1)).

A burned worker can still sue a third party, such as a subcontractor or the maker of a failed valve (MCL 418.827). If the worker does not sue within 1 year, the employer or its carrier may. After the expenses of recovery, including attorney fees, the money first reimburses the employer or carrier for benefits paid, and the balance is treated as an advance on future benefits.

Burn centers in Michigan

The ABA directory lists six burn centers in Michigan. Three are ABA-verified, and three are listed without verification.

Source: American Burn Association, Find a Burn Center, directory checked November 2026.

Statewide fire fatality data collected by MI Prevention appears in the annual reports of LARA’s Bureau of Fire Services, the State Fire Marshal’s office.

Who may be liable for a burn

Look at who controlled the danger. In a rental, that may be the owner who let a wiring problem slide. On a job site, the employer’s contractor may have left a line charged. A space heater, e-bike battery or pressure cooker that fails points to its manufacturer and seller. A gas or electric utility can be responsible for a leak or a downed line. A restaurant can be liable when hot oil or a scalding drink reaches a customer.

How Beverly Law helps in Michigan

Beverly Law is a California firm. Its attorneys are licensed in California and Washington. When someone is burned in Michigan, the firm works with licensed Michigan attorneys through its referral network, and a free case review connects you with a Michigan-licensed burn injury attorney, usually within one business day.

Related pages

• Burn injury lawyer · Burn injury law by state · Burn centers · Ohio · Indiana

This page is general information about Michigan law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws change; a lawyer licensed in Michigan can tell you how they apply to your case.

Common questions

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Important: Attorney Advertising. This page is general information, not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Beverly Law is a California firm whose attorneys are licensed in California and Washington; for injuries in other states it works with attorneys licensed there through its referral network. Last reviewed: November 6, 2026.