West Virginia Burn Injury Lawyers

By J. Brandon Shumaker and J. Tyler Slavey  ·  Slavey & Shumaker PLLC  ·  Morgantown, WV  ·  Last updated November 12, 2026

Serious burns are among the most painful injuries a person can suffer. Treatment can mean weeks in a burn unit, repeated surgeries and skin grafts, and months of therapy, and many burn survivors live with permanent scarring, limited movement and emotional effects.

Slavey & Shumaker PLLC helps people with burn injuries and their families throughout the State of West Virginia, including Monongalia, Preston, Marion and Harrison Counties. For other life-changing injuries, see our serious injury page, our traumatic brain injury page and our spinal cord injury page.

1. Types of Burn Injuries

Burns are often described by what caused them and by how deeply they damage the skin and underlying tissue. In general terms:

The outlook for recovery depends on the individual case and the medical evidence. This page is general information, not medical advice.

2. Common Causes of Burn Injuries

3. Proving a Burn Injury Claim

Burn cases often turn on how the fire, explosion or exposure started, and that evidence can be lost quickly. Building a strong claim usually involves:

4. Who May Be Responsible

Depending on the facts, responsible parties may include a negligent driver, a property owner or landlord, a contractor or utility service company, an employer’s outside contractor, or the manufacturer or seller of a defective product. You can recover as long as your share of fault is not greater than the combined fault of everyone else responsible, and your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault (W. Va. Code § 55-7-13c(c)). West Virginia generally holds each defendant liable only for its own percentage of fault (§ 55-7-13c(a)), but a defendant whose impaired driving was a proximate cause of the damages is jointly and severally liable (§ 55-7-13c(h)(1)).

5. Defective Products

Many burns are caused by products that overheat, ignite or explode during ordinary use. In Morningstar v. Black & Decker Manufacturing Co., 253 S.E.2d 666 (W. Va. 1979), the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia adopted strict liability for defective products and described the general test as whether the product is defective in the sense that it is “not reasonably safe for its intended use.” Under that standard, reasonable safeness is measured by what a reasonably prudent manufacturer’s standards should have been at the time the product was made.

Product cases depend on the physical evidence. If a product caused a burn, do not throw it away, try to repair it or return it to the seller. Keep it, its packaging, manuals and receipts, and talk with a lawyer about having it examined. See our product liability page.

6. Fires in Rental Housing

West Virginia law requires a residential landlord to maintain the leased property in a condition that meets applicable health, safety, fire and housing codes, unless the failure is the fault of the tenant, a member of the tenant’s family or another person on the premises with the tenant’s consent (W. Va. Code § 37-6-30(a)(2)), and to keep electrical, plumbing, heating and other facilities and appliances that the landlord supplies or is required to supply in good and safe working order (§ 37-6-30(a)(5)). The statute does not require a landlord to make repairs while the tenant is behind on rent (§ 37-6-30(c)). When a fire starts because a landlord ignored those duties, the landlord may be responsible. Whether a landlord is liable depends on the cause of the fire and the facts of each case.

7. Compensation After a Burn Injury

When punitive damages are allowed, the plaintiff must prove the required conduct by clear and convincing evidence, and the award may not exceed the greater of four times the compensatory damages or $500,000 (W. Va. Code § 55-7-29(a), (c)). When a burn injury causes a death, the family’s claim is governed by the wrongful death statute; see our wrongful death page.

8. Burn Injuries at Work

An employer that is in compliance with the workers’ compensation law is generally immune from suit for an employee’s injury (W. Va. Code § 23-2-6). But receiving workers’ compensation does not prevent a claim against a third party, such as an equipment manufacturer, a contractor or a utility service company, whose conduct caused the injury (§ 23-2A-1(a)). Slavey & Shumaker PLLC does not handle workers’ compensation or deliberate intent claims directly. We refer those claims to, and co-counsel with, other firms that handle the majority of that work. We can review whether you also have a claim against a third party, which is the part of the case we handle. See our factory and industrial accident page.

9. What to Do After a Burn Injury

Our consultation checklist lists what to bring to a first meeting.

10. Deadlines

Most personal injury lawsuits must be filed within two years after the right to sue accrues (W. Va. Code § 55-2-12(b)). Claims involving children and government bodies have their own rules; see our West Virginia filing deadlines guide. A child’s claim generally may be brought within the same period after the child turns 18, but never more than 20 years after the right accrues (§ 55-2-15(b)).

11. Why Choose Slavey & Shumaker PLLC

Our attorneys, J. Tyler Slavey, J. Brandon Shumaker, Scott B. Harris and Kasey Libby, move quickly to preserve the evidence in burn cases, work with qualified investigators and medical professionals when needed, and pursue full compensation for future care and scarring as well as past losses. No lawyer can guarantee a result. You can read what past clients say in our more than 100 Google reviews.

12. Frequently Asked Questions About Burn Injuries

This page is provided for general informational purposes about West Virginia law and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case depends on its own facts, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.