The insurance company already knows the difference between a lawyer who tries cases and one who only advertises. Do you, before you need a Mendenhall burns and chemical exposure workers comp lawyer? A serious burn or chemical exposure injury carries both medical treatment costs and, when it leaves visible facial or head scarring, a specific statutory disfigurement benefit most settlement mills never bother to mention exists.

Mississippi Law On Burns And Chemical Exposure

Miss. Code Ann. Section 71-3-7(1) requires the same direct causal connection between the work performed and the injury suffered. For facial or head disfigurement resulting from a burn or chemical exposure injury, Section 71-3-17(24) provides an additional benefit of up to $5,000, though no award can be made until one full year after the injury, giving the scarring time to reach its permanent, final appearance before a number gets attached to it. This disfigurement benefit is separate from and in addition to any medical treatment costs and wage loss benefits the underlying burn injury itself produces under the ordinary injury categories.

A Simpson County Industrial Park Chemical Splash And The Waiting Period The Insurance Company Ignores

Picture a maintenance worker at the Simpson County Industrial Park splashed across the face and neck with an industrial degreasing chemical when a hose connection fails under pressure. He receives emergency treatment and, months later, is left with permanent facial scarring visible from across a room. The insurance company’s adjuster will often try to settle the entire claim quickly, before the one year mark required under Section 71-3-17(24) for the disfigurement award, hoping the worker never realizes a separate, additional benefit exists specifically for facial and head scarring. Would you trust a weather app over an actual meteorologist during a hurricane? That is what trusting a secretary over a trial lawyer looks like.

Your TV Lawyer Has Never Filed A Motion Before A Workers Comp Judge In His Life.

A disfigurement claim delayed past the required one year waiting period, or disputed on the extent of permanent scarring, gets argued at the Simpson County Courthouse on Court Avenue in front of an Administrative Judge. The TV lawyer running commercials during the evening news has never filed a motion before a workers comp judge in his life, and a claim requiring a delayed disfigurement filing is exactly the kind of procedural detail that gets missed entirely by a lawyer whose only real specialty is media buying. A worker with permanent, visible scarring from a workplace chemical exposure deserves a lawyer who actually knows to wait for and then pursue this specific statutory benefit, not a lawyer who settles everything in one lump sum before the disfigurement clock even runs.

Simpson General Hospital’s Role In A Burn Injury’s Medical Record

Simpson General Hospital’s emergency treatment establishes the initial burn injury, but the plastic surgery or dermatology follow up that documents the final, permanent extent of scarring typically happens outside the county over the course of the year following the injury, exactly the documentation period Section 71-3-17(24) anticipates. The insurance company’s own doctor may examine the scarring early, before it has fully matured, and undervalue the permanent appearance the injury will ultimately leave. A secretary who does not schedule a follow up evaluation at or after the one year mark is settling a disfigurement claim based on an incomplete picture of the permanent injury.

Notice And Filing Deadlines On A Burn Or Chemical Exposure Claim

Section 71-3-35 requires actual notice to the employer within thirty days and a filed application within two years for the underlying injury claim. The disfigurement benefit under Section 71-3-17(24) runs on its own separate one year waiting period before an award can even be made, a detail entirely distinct from the ordinary notice and filing deadlines. A Simpson County worker whose employer’s insurance company pushes for a fast, full and final settlement within the first few months after a chemical exposure injury may be signing away a disfigurement benefit that has not even become legally available yet, without ever being told it exists.

The TV Lawyer’s Fee Betrayal On A Burn And Chemical Exposure Claim

A burn injury claim carrying both ordinary medical benefits and a separate disfigurement award is exactly the kind of layered file a settlement mill wants collapsed into one quick, incomplete number. There is the standard fee. Then a fee for reviewing the treatment records. Then a fee for the disfigurement evaluation, if one ever gets scheduled at all. Then a fee for reviewing that fee. Then, on the file with the biggest number, an invented expense line large enough to fund the matching jet skis, toys that ride smoothly across open water while the worker with permanent facial scarring never got told the disfigurement benefit existed at all. Nobody prints a percentage on the settlement sheet, because a percentage would let you do the math yourself before it is too late. I take a different approach entirely. I take $0.00 in fees from your temporary total disability check, no fee ever comes out of that specific check, on any case, and I would invite you to try getting that same promise in writing from a TV lawyer.

Every Mendenhall burns and chemical exposure workers comp case is covered by the Foster Fair Fee Guarantee, a written promise made before a single form gets signed that you walk away with more money than I do in fees. The Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, the official state agency that administers Mississippi workers compensation claims, publishes the forms and disfigurement rules that govern exactly this kind of claim.

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Ask Yourself Whether Your TV Lawyer Has Ever Actually Pursued A Disfigurement Award

Ask yourself does it matter if the plastic surgeon evaluating your scarring has actually treated chemical burn scarring before, not just read about it, before you trust the assessment. Ask yourself does it matter if the insurance appraiser assessing fire damage to a house has actually inspected burn damage before, not just estimated from photographs, before you accept the number. Ask yourself does it matter if the lawyer pursuing your facial disfigurement benefit has actually filed one of these specific claims before a judge, not just advertised for one, before you let them handle your permanent scarring claim. The TV lawyer running commercials during the evening news has never filed a disfigurement claim under Section 71-3-17(24) in his career. He has never waited out the required one year period to pursue a client’s full statutory benefit rather than closing the file early. He has never explained to a burned worker that a separate benefit exists beyond ordinary medical and wage loss compensation.

Here is the part the adjuster is hoping you never read. It is not buried in fine print. It is not some secret clause. It is sitting right there in Section 71-3-17(24), in plain English, and the insurance company is counting on the fact that you have never opened it. A properly pursued disfigurement claim is not a benefit a settlement mill fights to secure, because securing it means waiting a full year and scheduling a follow up evaluation instead of closing the file this quarter. This is not rare. This is what happens on nearly every burn file that comes through a volume shop. Every time. Same play, different name at the top of the folder. Whether your TV lawyer holds a Mississippi Bar license at all is a fact you can check yourself at the Mississippi Bar’s public attorney search in about a minute, and the courtroom where a disfigurement claim actually gets argued is exactly where his media budget stops mattering.

Frequently Asked Questions About Mendenhall Burns And Chemical Exposure Claims

Is There A Separate Benefit For Facial Scarring From A Mendenhall Chemical Exposure Injury?

Yes. Section 71-3-17(24) provides up to $5,000 for facial or head disfigurement, separate from ordinary medical and wage loss benefits, though no award can be made until one full year after the injury.

Why Would The Insurance Company Want To Settle My Burn Claim Quickly?

Settling before the one year disfigurement waiting period runs can let the insurance company close the file before the separate, additional facial scarring benefit ever becomes legally available, without ever mentioning it exists.

What Medical Documentation Does A Mendenhall Disfigurement Claim Need?

A follow up plastic surgery or dermatology evaluation performed at or after the one year mark, once scarring has reached its final, permanent appearance, rather than an early exam performed before the injury has fully healed.

Does A Chemical Exposure Injury Need To Leave Visible Scarring To Get Workers Comp Benefits?

No. Ordinary medical treatment and wage loss benefits apply under Section 71-3-7(1) regardless of visible scarring. The additional disfigurement benefit under Section 71-3-17(24) applies specifically when facial or head scarring results.

Where Are Disputed Mendenhall Burn And Disfigurement Claims Heard?

At the Simpson County Courthouse on Court Avenue, in front of an Administrative Judge. A lawyer who has never filed a motion before a workers comp judge is unlikely to know to pursue the disfigurement benefit at all.

P.S. The insurance company would rather settle your Mendenhall burn or chemical exposure claim now than wait out the year required for the full disfigurement benefit to become available. Before you sign anything, get the FREE book and find out what the adjuster is counting on you never learning about the separate facial disfigurement award.

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