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In the case of burn injuries, Steinbrecher
& Associates work closely with doctors who specialize
in severe burn injuries. Whether your burn injury is
from chemical, fire or electrical contact, we have the
resources to have our burn victim clients evaluated
by doctors specializing in severe burn injuries.
Here are two recent cases that underscore
our competence in the area of burn injury; Serrano/Zaldana
v. Thoro-Matic and Williams v. GAF Corp.
In the first burn injury lawsuit, Serrano/Zaldana
v. Thoro-Matic the burn victims were Hispanic laborers.
They were told by their employer to remove tile glue
from a cement floor. They used a chemical to loosen
the glue. The final step was the use of a Thoro-Matic
floor machine that warned in English only that the machine
sparked and could cause an explosion if used with flammable
chemicals. Our clients could not read or understand
the yellow warning label on the machine. They poured
flammable Acetone on the floor of a small room and then
turned the Thoro-Matic machine on. The machine caused
the vapors to explode, causing serious burn injuries
to both of them. A product liability lawsuit was brought
against the manufacturer for failing to provide universal
warning, such as a pictogram, to warn of the risk of
explosion and burn injury from sparking. The mechanical
start switches, which sparked, should have been replaced
with solid-state switches that did not spark. The burn
injury lawsuit was settled before trial for the policy
limits of $2,000,000 from the machine manufacturer
and $100,000 from the retail store.
In the second burn injury case, Williams
v. GAF Corp., our client Oscar Williams drove an
asphalt-filled tanker truck. He pulled into GAF's facility
to offload hot asphalt. He climbed up on the truck in
the rain to crack the dome lid so that the tanker could
unload easily. Suddenly there was a huge explosion of
hot asphalt shooting out of the top of the tanker truck
dome showering Oscar, causing severe burn injuries.
A year after the accident Oscar died from lung cancer.
GAF claimed that the lung cancer was caused by a long
history of smoking. Steinbrecher and Associates proved
through various experts that the lung cancer was probably
the result of inhalation and absorption of hot asphalt
which contained toxic chemicals. The case settled prior
to trial for $1,150,000.
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