Most burns at home are no one’s legal fault. A pan of oil flares, a hand slips, and the only coverage is usually your own health insurance. But some trace back to someone else: a landlord who ignored a broken wall heater or a dead smoke alarm, a space heater or battery that failed, or a contractor who botched a gas or electrical job. Then California law gives you a claim, and whether it holds up usually depends on evidence that disappears within days.
The starting rule: ordinary care
Civil Code section 1714(a) makes everyone responsible for an injury caused by their “want of ordinary care or skill in the management of” their property or person. That sentence is the basis for most claims against landlords, homeowners, and contractors. The question is whether someone else had a duty to prevent the hazard and failed to meet it.
Product cases work differently. California holds manufacturers and sellers responsible for injuries caused by a defective product, whether the defect is in the design, in how that unit was made, or in missing or inadequate warnings. You generally do not have to prove the company was careless, but you do have to prove the defect, which is why the product itself matters.
When the landlord is responsible
A rental has to meet minimum habitability standards. Under Civil Code section 1941.1, a dwelling is untenantable if it substantially lacks gas facilities, heating facilities, or electrical wiring and equipment that met the law when installed and are “maintained in good working order.” For leases entered into, amended, or extended on or after January 1, 2026, the list also includes a stove in good working order that can safely generate heat for cooking. A recalled stove does not qualify, and the landlord must repair or replace it within 30 days of notice of the recall. The stove rule does not cover single room occupancy units, residential hotels, permanent supportive housing, or buildings with shared kitchens.
Health and Safety Code section 13113.7 requires approved smoke alarms in each dwelling unit, though not in mobilehomes or manufactured homes, and makes the owner of a rented unit responsible for testing and maintaining them. At the start of a tenancy the owner must make sure the alarms work. After that, the owner is not in violation for a dead alarm the tenant never reported.
That last point comes up in most landlord cases. Liability usually turns on whether the landlord knew or should have known about the problem and had a fair chance to fix it. A text about a sparking outlet, a maintenance ticket about a gas smell, or an email about a heater that will not shut off can be the most important document in the file.
When a product started the fire
Common culprits are space heaters, electric blankets, pressure cookers, phone and laptop chargers, and lithium-ion batteries in e-bikes and scooters. Since January 1, 2026, Health and Safety Code section 26302 bars selling an electric bicycle, a motorized scooter or similar powered mobility device, or a replacement battery for one, unless the battery was tested by an accredited laboratory to a recognized safety standard, and products sold new must carry the lab’s mark. A battery sold since that date without that testing is a significant fact in a claim against the seller.
Expect the manufacturer and its insurer to argue misuse: an off-brand charger, a battery left charging on a bed, a heater pushed against curtains. Misuse ends a product claim only when it was so unusual that the maker could not reasonably have foreseen it. Predictable misuse at most reduces your recovery by your share of fault, because makers must design and warn with it in mind. That is why you keep everything, including the charger, the packaging, and the receipt or order confirmation. Our burn injury page covers these claims.
When a contractor’s work caused it
Gas line connections, water heater installs, electrical panel work, and appliance hookups are jobs where a mistake can stay hidden until it burns someone. A contractor who did the work carelessly is responsible under the same ordinary care rule in section 1714. Useful records include the permit history from the city or county building department, the final inspection sign-off, invoices, and the contractor’s license status with the Contractors State License Board.
When there is no claim against anyone
There is usually no claim, or a very weak one, when:
- You own the home and the burn came from your own cooking, candle, or fireplace, with no product failure.
- The product had no defect and the fire came only from using it against its warnings, such as a heater placed against bedding. Keep the product even then; whether a defect played a part is rarely clear without an inspection.
- A rental defect existed, but the landlord had no notice of it and no reasonable way to find out.
- The product was thrown out and nothing else shows what failed.
A guest burned at someone else’s house is different. The host owes guests ordinary care under section 1714, and homeowner’s liability coverage often responds to those claims.
Evidence that disappears in days
- The fire department report. Find out which agency responded, get the incident number, and request the report and any cause and origin notes.
- The product and everything with it. Keep the heater, appliance, battery, charger, cords, and outlet cover. Do not repair, clean, or test it. A heat-damaged battery can catch fire again, so never charge it, keep it away from anything that can burn, and ask the fire department how to store it.
- Control of the evidence. An adjuster or investigator, from your insurer or the landlord’s, may ask to take the product. Do not let anything leave without a written receipt, and do not agree to testing that could alter it until everyone with an interest has notice.
- Photos of the scene before cleanup or repair: the burn pattern, the outlet, the smoke alarm and whether it had a battery, and the product where it sat.
- Your messages to the landlord about the condition before the fire.
- The burns themselves, over time. Photograph the injury regularly as it heals and as scars mature over the following months. Keep records of grafts, dressing changes, compression garments, and therapy. One emergency room photo does not show what a burn does to a person over a year. Our guide to the medical records that matter in an accident claim lists the core records to request.
If the landlord’s or manufacturer’s insurer calls, read our guide on recorded statements before you agree to one.
Deadlines
The general deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit in California is two years from the injury under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. If the landlord is a public entity, such as a city or county housing authority, a written claim must be presented within six months under Government Code section 911.2. Government Code section 811.2 defines a public entity to include any public authority or public agency. For a burned child, Code of Civil Procedure section 352 pauses the two-year clock until the child turns 18, but it does not extend the six-month government claim deadline. If those six months pass, Government Code sections 911.4 and 911.6 allow a written application to present a late claim within a reasonable time, and no later than one year after the injury, which the entity must grant when the injured person was a minor for the whole six months.
What to do this week
- Request the fire department incident report.
- Put the product, charger, and packaging somewhere safe and away from anything that can burn, and write down everyone who has handled them.
- Screenshot every message to the landlord or property manager about the condition.
- Photograph the burns and start a dated log of treatment, pain, and limits on daily life.
- Check whether the product was recalled, and save a copy of the recall notice.
- Before any insurer removes items or asks for a recorded statement, get advice.
About the author. Joshua B. Adelpour is the founder of Not My Fault Law Group, APC, a California personal injury firm based in Woodland Hills. He is licensed by the State Bar of California, Bar No. 318226, and spent nearly a decade defending insurance companies in civil litigation before opening the firm. Call (213) 800-0706 for a free consultation.
This article is general information about California law and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney client relationship. Every case depends on its own facts. Last updated October 6, 2026.