Clarksdale Personal Injury Lawyer
The goal in an injury case is simple to state: get your medical care paid for, replace the income you are losing, and hold the right party responsible. Reaching it is harder when the person who hurt you is an employer’s insurer, a trucking company, or a property owner with a defense lawyer on call. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC handles injury and workers’ compensation claims for people across Mississippi and Louisiana, and a Clarksdale personal injury lawyer from our team can help Coahoma County residents work out which claim, or which combination of claims, fits what happened to them.
Clarksdale sits in the middle of the Delta, and the injuries that come out of this region reflect the work done here. Farm equipment, grain handling, cotton and soybean operations, trucking on Highway 61 and Highway 49, warehouse and distribution work, and plant jobs all produce serious injuries. Many of them are covered by workers’ compensation first, but a good number also involve a second party who may be liable in a separate injury claim.
That difference matters more than most people realize. A workers’ comp claim and a personal injury claim follow different rules, different deadlines, and different rules about fault. Getting the first one wrong can damage the second.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC for an Injury Claim in Clarksdale
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured people throughout Mississippi, including Clarksdale, the Delta, and north Mississippi, as well as South Louisiana and north Louisiana. That focus is unusual. Many lawyers take a work injury only when one walks in the door. Our practice is built around them, and we also handle car and truck accidents, premises liability, and wrongful death cases for clients in both states.
Rob Lunsford, our Founding Partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe, both Partners, have been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and The National Trial Lawyers, and the firm was ranked by Best Law Firms in 2026 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. Andrew Rueff has successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict and has argued personal injury and insurance cases before Mississippi’s appellate courts. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The results reflect the kind of injuries that tend to come out of Delta work: a $685,000 settlement for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, $385,000 for a project manager injured when his work vehicle was struck, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Across all clients, we have recovered more than $100 million in settlements. Clients regularly describe a team that listened, kept them informed, and pushed back on the insurance company.
Consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and you pay no fee unless we recover for you. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and hablamos espanol for Spanish-speaking clients.
Injury Claims We Handle for Clarksdale and Coahoma County Residents
- Workers’ Compensation Injuries: Back, neck, and spine injuries, torn rotator cuffs, knee tears, fractures, and burns suffered on the job. Mississippi covers the worker from the first day of employment, and the claim is decided by the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission rather than a jury.
- Truck and Delivery Vehicle Collisions: Highway 61 and Highway 49 carry heavy freight and farm traffic through the Delta. A driver hurt in a wreck on the job may have both a comp claim and a claim against the at-fault driver or that driver’s employer.
- Car Accidents: Crashes on Delta highways and county roads, where speed, farm equipment pulling onto the road, and limited lighting at night all show up in the evidence.
- Premises Liability: Falls and injuries caused by unsafe conditions on someone else’s property, including stores, rental properties, and contractor-controlled job sites where the injured person does not work for the property owner.
- Third-Party Claims Beyond Workers’ Comp: A defective machine, a negligent subcontractor, or an outside driver can be liable even when your own employer is protected by the comp system.
- Wrongful Death: Claims by families after a fatal crash, workplace accident, or unsafe-premises incident. Mississippi gives three years for a negligence-based claim and one year when the death results from an intentional act.
- Burns and Catastrophic Injuries: Industrial, plant, and equipment-related injuries that require long-term care and carry the largest financial consequences.
What to Do in the Days After an Injury in Clarksdale
Get medical care first, and tell the provider exactly how the injury happened. That first record becomes the foundation of everything that follows. If the injury happened at work, report it to your employer right away. Mississippi requires notice within 30 days of the accident, and putting the report in writing leaves no room for later argument about whether you gave it.
Then keep the deadlines straight, because the ones that apply to you depend on how you were hurt. For a workers’ compensation claim in Mississippi, you generally have two years from the date of injury to file a Petition to Controvert with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, unless disability payments have been made that extend the window. For an ordinary injury claim with no special limit, Mississippi’s general rule is three years from when the cause of action accrued. A claim against a county or governmental agency is much shorter, one year, and requires formal notice under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act. If the injury happened on the Louisiana side of the river, different rules apply, including a two-year period for injuries on or after July 1, 2024.
Photograph the scene, the equipment, and your injuries before anything is repaired or cleaned up. Collect names of witnesses. Keep every medical bill, pay stub, and piece of correspondence from the insurer. If a police report was taken after a crash, get a copy.
Be careful with recorded statements. An adjuster may call within days, sound friendly, and ask open-ended questions about prior injuries or what you could have done differently. Mississippi uses pure comparative negligence, so any fault assigned to you reduces your recovery by your percentage rather than ending it, but adjusters still use these conversations to build that percentage. You are not required to give a recorded statement to the other side’s insurer, and talking with a lawyer first is reasonable.
Federal claims arising in the Delta, which are less common, are heard by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, where the Greenville Division holds court in Clarksdale, Cleveland, and Greenville. Most injury cases, however, are handled in the state courts or, for work injuries, through the Workers’ Compensation Commission.
When a Work Injury Also Becomes a Personal Injury Case
Workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy against your own employer in most situations, which means you generally cannot sue the company for negligence. But comp does not shield everyone else. If a negligent driver hit your work truck, if a contractor on a shared site left a hazard, or if a piece of equipment failed because of a design or maintenance defect, you may be able to pursue that party in a separate injury action.
The two claims affect each other. Comp pays medical bills and lost wages without regard to fault, but it does not pay for pain and suffering. A third-party claim can, and the workers’ comp insurer often has a right to be reimbursed from the third-party recovery. Settling one claim carelessly can compromise the other. That is why the claims should be planned together from the start, not handled by separate lawyers who never speak to each other.
Mississippi wage benefits under comp are generally two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a statutory weekly maximum, and for total disability they run no longer than 450 weeks. Those numbers matter when you are weighing a settlement against the long-term cost of an injury that may keep you from the work you did before.
How Comparative Fault Affects Your Clarksdale Injury Recovery
Fault is the pressure point in almost every injury claim. In Mississippi, if you are found partly responsible, your recovery is reduced by your share of the blame. You do not lose the claim simply because you share some of it. That is a meaningful advantage compared with states that bar recovery above a fault threshold.
Louisiana is different. For causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a person found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and below that threshold the award is reduced proportionally. If your injury involves both states, such as a crash near the state line or an employer with operations on both sides, the state whose law applies can change the outcome.
Evidence is how fault gets decided. Scene photographs, vehicle data, witness statements, medical records that tie the injury to the event, and employment records all carry weight. The earlier that evidence is secured, the harder it is for an insurer to rewrite what happened.
Questions Clarksdale Injury Victims Ask
How long do I have to file an injury lawsuit in Mississippi?
For most negligence-based injury claims, Mississippi allows three years from the date the cause of action accrued. Some claims have shorter limits. Medical malpractice is two years, and claims against a county or government agency are one year with a notice requirement. Workers’ compensation has its own deadlines, including 30 days to report and generally two years to file a claim.
Can I file both a workers’ comp claim and a personal injury claim?
Yes, if someone other than your employer contributed to the injury. Comp covers you regardless of fault, and a separate claim against a negligent third party can recover damages that comp does not, including pain and suffering. The two need to be coordinated.
What if I was partly at fault for the accident?
Under Mississippi’s pure comparative negligence rule, your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault rather than eliminated. If your share is 20 percent, for example, the award is reduced by that amount.
Do I need a lawyer for a minor injury?
Not every claim requires one. But when an insurer denies treatment, disputes how the injury happened, or offers a quick settlement before you know the full extent of your injuries, a lawyer can tell you whether the offer reflects the real value of the claim. Consultations are free.
How much does it cost to hire your firm?
Nothing up front. We advance the costs of the case, and you pay a fee only if we recover benefits or a settlement for you. In workers’ compensation cases, attorney fees are also limited and approved under state law.
My employer says I can’t sue because of workers’ comp. Is that true?
Mostly, as to the employer itself. Comp is generally the exclusive remedy against your own employer. It does not block a claim against a separate driver, contractor, equipment maker, or property owner whose negligence helped cause the injury.
Can I be fired for filing a workers’ compensation claim?
Mississippi and Louisiana both protect workers from retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were let go or punished after reporting an injury, tell us during your consultation so we can review your options.
Will my health insurance pay while my claim is pending?
Sometimes, but it can create complications. If the injury is work-related, the comp carrier is supposed to pay for authorized treatment, and health insurers may seek reimbursement later. Sort out who is paying before you schedule major treatment, and keep every bill.
What happens if my workers’ comp benefits are denied?
In Mississippi, you can contest the denial by filing a Petition to Controvert with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. A hearing is held before an Administrative Judge, and a decision can be reviewed by the Full Commission on the existing record. A final award can then be appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court, which may assign the case to the Court of Appeals, generally within 30 days.
What if a family member died in a work or vehicle accident?
A wrongful death claim may be available, and in a work-related death, comp death benefits may also apply. In Mississippi, a negligence-based wrongful death claim generally carries a three-year limit, and a claim based on an intentional act carries one year. Noneconomic damages are capped in most wrongful death cases, but economic losses are not. Talk with an attorney quickly so evidence is preserved.
Does a pre-existing condition ruin my claim?
No. If the accident or your job caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits or damages. Insurers raise this argument often, and answering it with clear medical evidence is routine work for our team.
Serving Clarksdale and Coahoma County Injury Clients Across the Delta
We represent injured people in Clarksdale and throughout Coahoma County, including Friars Point, Lula, Jonestown, Coahoma, Lyon, and Jonestown’s surrounding farm communities. Our reach extends across the Mississippi Delta, to nearby Tunica, Marks, Webb, Tutwiler, Sumner, and Charleston, and to Cleveland, Greenwood, Indianola, Greenville, and Belzoni. We also serve clients in north Mississippi, including Southaven, Oxford, and Batesville, and in Jackson, Madison, Hattiesburg, and the Gulf Coast.
On the Louisiana side, we represent workers and accident victims in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport, and across South Louisiana and north Louisiana. Whether the injury came from a farm operation, a trucking route, a plant, or an unsafe property, we take cases from injured people in every part of both states.
Speak With a Clarksdale Personal Injury Attorney Today
If you were hurt at work or on the road and are not sure whether you have a comp claim, an injury claim, or both, a Clarksdale personal injury attorney from Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC can sort that out with you in a free consultation. We handle the insurers and the paperwork so you can focus on recovery.
Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover for you. Call us or send your case details, and we will tell you plainly where your claim stands.
