Best Firework Injury Lawyers

Just about anyone enjoys a good fireworks display, whether it be on the 4th of July, at a concert, or during an inaugural ceremony. Fireworks are not an original American concept, however. For centuries, fireworks have been used to elevate the pomp and pageantry of royalty and to celebrate military victories.

We are all fond of fireworks, but these explosives are inherently dangerous. Every year fireworks are the source of thousands of injuries and the cause of thousands of fires. 

If you or someone you love has been injured by fireworks, please read on for tips on how to proceed, or fill out a free case evaluation form online to learn about your options. You might be entitled to compensation if your injury is due to someone else’s negligence.

What are the statistics on firework injuries?

According to a 2018 report by the National Firework Protection Association, about 19,500 fires were started by fireworks causing five deaths, 46 injuries such as burns, and 105 million dollars in property damages. 28 percent of these fires caused by fireworks were on the 4th of July.  

The same year, hospital emergency rooms treated 9,100 people for fireworks-related injuries, most of which were to the extremities. 34% were to the victim’s head or eyes, according to a report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

As the pandemic caused almost all public firework displays to be canceled on the 4th of July 2020, consumer firework injuries rose by 56% in that year, making it the most dangerous in more than 15 years. Unfortunately, consumer sparklers in the hands of children are the source of most of these injuries. Firework injuries can cause more than just burns. Scars, disfigurement, loss of limbs, or even death are all possible when fireworks are used negligently.

How can I avoid firework injuries at home?

• Make sure the fireworks used are legal.
• Don’t let children use fireworks.
• Always have adults oversee firework usage.
• Never use fireworks that come in brown paper packaging; these are used by professionals and are not safe for consumer use.
• Keep sparklers out of the hands of children.
• Never lean directly over any fireworks while lighting the fuse.
• Move quickly and far away after igniting fireworks.
• Never attempt to relight a firework that malfunctioned.
• Avoid pointing or throwing fireworks at people or objects.
• Have a water source handy to extinguish a fire.

What should I do if I get an injury from fireworks?

If you have been injured in a fireworks accident, you may be able to make a claim against the person or entities responsible. Suppose the wrongdoer was negligent or reckless in their actions and caused your injuries. In that case, you could obtain compensation for things like medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. This is possible because of legal theories based on negligence.

Firework injury lawyers can assess if the person or entities that caused your firework injuries behaved in a manner that constitutes negligence. Since using fireworks is established as dangerous, anyone using them has an obligation to be careful. Just like when someone gets in a car and drives or operates heavy machinery, the operator is bound to take reasonable precautions not to cause injuries to people or property.

What is negligence in the law?

Negligence is the basis of many common types of personal injury lawsuits in the U.S. Firework injury attorneys can use the law of negligence to build a case against the person who injured you. Still, they have to establish five elements under the theory of the law. 

1. The first is an existence of a legal duty that the wrongdoer owed to you. That legal duty is to act in a manner that doesn’t cause harm to others.
2. The second requires proving they breached that duty. For example, when someone drives a car and they don’t stop for a stop sign, and the result is they hit you, that is a breach of duty. 
3. The third is causation. A straightforward example is a bus driver hitting a cyclist and injuring that person. The bus driver caused that accident. The cyclist was injured and would not have been otherwise.
4. The fourth is the proximate cause which means the bus driver knew if they hit someone, injuries would be likely. 
5. The last is damages. It’s literally adding a price tag to everything you have suffered or lost due to someone else’s negligence.

In the instance of firework injuries, the person who chose to handle the fireworks had to be aware that using fireworks could lead to an injury, whether intentional or not. In a nutshell, people who choose to use fireworks have a high “duty of care” to others.

Who can be held liable for my fireworks injury?

Say you were attending a professional fireworks display. The promoter of the event has a duty to protect you and other attendees from getting injured from fireworks and the falling debris from the blasts. Perhaps they didn’t take precautions to ensure no one in the crowd got too close to the blast zone. Or maybe they didn’t have the right kind or enough personnel to step in and handle an emergency. In that case, you could sue the promoter, and in some instances, the town, city, or county could be held liable, although some state laws limit a municipality’s liability. 

Setting up a professional fireworks display requires a lot of care. Fireworks must be appropriately secured so the fireworks can’t tip over and shoot at spectators. Even small fireworks have to be secured in a manner that won’t lead to injuries. If shots go off at the ground level, that means there was a fault with the firework or a lack of lifting charge, and someone should be held liable.

Another entity that could be held liable is the fireworks manufacturer or the retailer. If there was a malfunction due to negligence in production, it’s possible to make a claim against them. This is called product liability. However, the vast majority of fireworks are made overseas, so this could be challenging to get compensation. In some cases, it may be possible to sue the importer instead of an offshore manufacturer.  

If you were injured in a backyard fireworks display, you could sue the homeowner in what is known as a premises liability lawsuit. It all depends on many factors. Here are some other things to take into consideration. Were the fireworks legal? Were the warning labels sufficient? Firework injury attorneys are your best resource to determine who can be held liable for your firework injuries.

Even if you weren’t injured from fireworks, but you came to harm while attending a public fireworks display because of negligence, you may have a case. For instance, the promoter didn’t contain the number of people at the venue, and because of overcrowding, you get trampled. Or the stands weren’t correctly set up, and you get hurt when it collapses. Another example could be that too many people were pushing against a guardrail and caused it to topple, and you fell as a result.

Why should I hire Morgan & Morgan for my firework injury claim?

The law is highly complex. Hiring Morgan & Morgan means you have a virtual army at your back with hundreds of capable attorneys that have vast resources at their fingertips. Not to mention the passion our lawyers have for fighting for the little person. We have resolved over 300,000 successful cases in our 30+ years of practicing law. 

Many of our verdicts have been 20 times greater than what was offered at pre-trial. We believe this speaks to our dedication to taking cases to trial if need be. Many personal injury lawyers will shy away from the courtroom, which can impact your level of compensation. You want an attorney that is battle-ready.

Our consultations are free, and you don’t pay anything unless we win your case. You have a right to seek compensation for your fireworks injury if someone else’s negligence caused it. We can get the money you need to pay your medical bills and get compensation for lost work, pain and suffering, and more. Contact us today to start on the road to relief!