By JODI SOKOLOWSKI
Buffalo Law Journal

Now that it's the first business day after the Fourth of July, personal-injury attorneys' phones may be ringing with calls about injuries involving fireworks.

Using, selling or handing out illegal fireworks can lead to legal liability.

Just last week, two homes on Vermont Street were damaged beyond repair after a 6-year-old boy lit a firecracker on a bed. The boy suffered first-degree burns to his arm. Leon Sapp Jr., 49, of the Town of Tonawanda, was charged with illegal sale of fireworks and endangering the welfare of a child.

Two-thirds of all fireworks injuries occur in the few days around July 4, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While most of those injuries are minor "treat and release" burn cases, serious injuries can cause permanent hearing loss, disfigurement, blindness and death.

Fireworks injuries often lead to insurance claims and lawsuits. Those who intend to illegally use fireworks or allow others to do so on their property are advised to make sure their homeowner's or renter's insurance has a high enough liability limit. The cost of treating burn injuries can average more than $20,000, and long-term care for more serious burns can run up into six figures, according to the National Safe Kids Campaign.

Claims of negligence, in situations where an adult intentionally gives a child fireworks, or recklessness, perhaps when a person directs a firecracker at another person, are not covered under any insurance policy, said Christopher O'Brien of O'Brien Boyd PC.

Timothy O'Connell, a partner at Siegel Kelleher & Kahn, has represented several plaintiffs who were injured by fireworks. Fireworks-injury cases, he says, typically involve either a neighbor doing a backyard display, a permit-approved, formal fireworks display or a claim against a fireworks manufacturer.

The injuries sustained from backyard and formal displays are usually covered under insurance, but suing a manufacturer is more problematic because there is generally little physical evidence and it may be difficult to trace the product back to its source.

"The fireworks are no longer around after they've exploded, and trying to identify the exact firework that caused the injury is nearly impossible," O'Connell said.

While New York is one of only five states that ban all consumer fireworks, that doesn't stop residents from traveling to nearby Pennsylvania to purchase and bring them back for backyard evening displays.

Although possession or use of fireworks is a violation under New York's Penal Code, many police departments don't patrol for or write appearance tickets for their use - because it could be "taxing the police agency too much," O'Connell said.

"Around this (holiday) you hear nothing but fireworks going off in neighborhoods all over. It would be virtually impossible for police to attend to each and every one of those situations," he said.

The sale of fireworks can be a class A or B misdemeanor; repeat offenses are class E felonies.

About $1,000 in fireworks was found in Sapp's vehicle, according Buffalo's Fire Commissioner Michael Lombardo. An anonymous tip led officials to a warehouse in the Clinton-Bailey neighborhood where two tons of fireworks, said to have a street value of more than $50,000, were seized June 27. Kevin Domblewski of Buffalo was charged with a misdemeanor. Certain types of fireworks bring felony charges.

O'Connell said he's never seen a criminal charge levied in any fireworks-related personal-injury case.

New York officials have reported that since 1996, there were only 63 fireworks convictions statewide. Fear of criminal charges should not be the main deterrent, officials say.

On average, 2,500 structure fires and 9,200 injuries are caused by fireworks nationwide annually, Lombardo said. Fireworks were the cause of seven U.S. deaths last year, he added. And on July 4, 1997, Buffalo firefighter Michael Sequin, 34, was burned to death in a fire started by fireworks on Kehr Street.

The best thing to avoid the tragedy of firework accidents is not to use them, and stay far away from those who do, personal-injury attorneys say.

Lombardo noted that there were numerous municipality-sponsored fireworks displays scheduled around the region this past weekend for a reason.

"Even in states where fireworks are legal, many people get hurt. It's very dangerous and a big deal," he said.