Negligent Landlords and Serious Fire Injuries in North Texas

In America, a fire department responds to a fire every 24 seconds. Burn injuries affect thousands of people each year, and many of these injuries are serious. If you’ve been hurt by a serious burn injury in Fort Worth in a rented unit or home, your next step after seeking medical attention should be to contact a personal injury lawyer in Fort Worth.

Read on to learn how the North Texas attorneys at Carabin Shaw may be able to help you, learn examples of landlord negligence surrounding burn injuries, and discover how to consult with expert Fort Worth burn injury attorneys for free.

Landlords owe their tenants a legal duty of care to protect them from harm. Failure to take reasonable precautions to prevent hazards such as fires may constitute negligence.

• According to Texas Property Code §92.251 – §92.262, Subchapter F, all rental units including apartments, duplexes, condos, and single-family homes must have working smoke detectors installed.
• It is your landlord’s legal responsibility to ensure that these smoke detectors are installed in each unit, that there is at least one smoke detector installed outside of each bedroom, and that these smoke detectors are in working condition when a tenant first moves in.
• So, if you were injured in a fire in your rented unit in Texas because your apartment lacked a smoke detector, you have grounds to sue your landlord for their negligence.

Failing to install a smoke detector is an obvious example of negligence, but landlords can be negligent in a number of ways that may result in burn injuries. These include—but are not limited to—the following:

• Failure to provide all tenants with fire extinguishers
• Failure to maintain or regularly inspect appliances
• Building code violations
• Allowing buildings to be overcrowded
• Blocked fire exits
• Pest infestations
• Faulty wiring within the unit
• Defective smoke detectors
• Failure to repair appliances in a timely manner after being alerted by tenants about an issue

In order to prove that your landlord behaved negligently, your personal injury attorney will need to prove that they either could have prevented the fire or that there is sufficient evidence to establish that they knew a fire could potentially occur.

To prove this, your attorney will need to conduct an investigation into the factors that contributed to your burn injury. If the investigation determines that your landlord behaved negligently, your attorney will then inform you of what damages you might be owed and you can then begin the personal injury claim process.

But first, you need to choose the right attorney and schedule a consultation.

After a serious fire injury, you need an attorney with the knowledge, resources, and experience to expertly handle your accident case and prove negligence. That’s where we come in. The North Texas attorneys at Carabin Shaw have been handling burn injury claims for more than two decades. Our team of Fort Worth burn injury attorneys has a combined 200 years of legal experience, and we’re passionate about defending the legal rights of accident victims.

Best of all, we offer all new clients a no cost, no obligation consultation and a free initial case review with a lawyer. So call Carabin Shaw’s Fort Worth office today at 800-862-1260 or fill out our online form to schedule your free consultation, and to find out how a qualified personal injury lawyer in Fort Worth can help. Don’t wait—call and discover what we can do for you.