Yazoo City Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers in Yazoo City and across Yazoo County, along with the surrounding Mississippi Delta and the rest of Mississippi and South Louisiana. Our clients are people hurt on the job who suddenly face unpaid medical bills, a missing paycheck, and an insurance adjuster asking pointed questions. If you need a Yazoo City workers’ compensation lawyer, workers’ comp is the only kind of case we built the practice around.
Yazoo City sits at the meeting point of the Delta and the hills, and the work around it is physical: agriculture and equipment repair, trucking and hauling, manufacturing, healthcare, and construction crews that travel to job sites all over the region. Those jobs produce the injuries that insurers like to fight over, such as herniated discs from years of lifting, torn shoulders from heavy equipment, and crush and fracture injuries on industrial sites. The carrier’s standard response is to call it age-related wear, an old injury, or something that happened off the clock.
Mississippi comp claims are not decided in the Yazoo County courthouse. They go through an administrative system, and how your claim is documented in the first weeks often decides how it ends.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for Your Yazoo City Comp Claim
Most attorneys who take comp cases are personal injury lawyers who handle a work injury only when one walks in. We are the reverse. We have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for injured workers, and we represent clients throughout Yazoo County and the Delta as well as across Mississippi and Louisiana.
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 tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict and regularly appears before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
Results matter more than adjectives. We secured $685,000 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. Clients tell us in their reviews that we listened, stayed professional, and fought the insurance company at every step.
The practical terms are simple. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of your case, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Attorney fees in comp cases are limited and approved under state law. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and hablamos español.
Injuries and Claims We See From Yazoo City Workers
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Lumbar and cervical disc herniations are the most common serious claims from warehouse, trucking, farm, and construction work. Insurers often blame degenerative disc disease, so we build the medical record to show how repetitive labor or a single incident caused or aggravated the condition.
- Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Torn rotator cuffs, SLAP tears, ACL tears, and meniscus tears come from lifting, climbing, and pulling heavy loads. Employers sometimes call these old sports injuries, and the answer is clear imaging and a treating physician’s causation opinion.
- Fractures: Broken feet, ankles, hips, and other bones from falls, struck-by accidents, and equipment incidents often need specialists and surgical repair, with long stretches away from work.
- Burns and Catastrophic Injuries: Plants, oilfield work, and industrial sites produce severe burns and life-changing injuries where lifetime medical care becomes the central issue.
- Truck Driver and Delivery Driver Injuries: Highways through the Delta carry heavy commercial traffic, and a wreck on the job can mean both a comp claim and a separate claim against the at-fault driver.
- Firefighter and First Responder Claims: Hypertension, heart and lung disease, hepatitis, hearing loss, posttraumatic stress, and cancer tied to the job are claims we handle for those who serve.
- Cumulative Trauma and Occupational Illness: Conditions that build over years rather than in one moment are still compensable when work caused or worsened them, though they are contested more often.
What to Do After a Work Injury in Yazoo County
Start with your health, then your paper trail. Get medical attention and tell the provider the injury happened at work, because the first chart note becomes evidence. Then report the injury to your employer. Mississippi requires notice within 30 days of the accident, but waiting even a few days gives the insurer room to question whether it happened at work at all. Report in writing if you can and keep a copy.
Coverage in Mississippi begins on your first day on the job, with no waiting period, so a new hire is covered the same as a veteran employee. Write down what happened while it is fresh: the date, the equipment, who saw it, and what you felt. Keep your pay stubs, work schedule, and every medical record and bill you receive. Be careful with recorded statements to the adjuster. They are not neutral, and a casual comment about an old ache can be used to argue a pre-existing condition.
The filing deadline is separate from the notice deadline. If no disability benefits have been paid, you generally have two years from the date of injury to file a Petition to Controvert with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, and if payments have been made the two years can run from the last payment. Do not let a verbal promise from a supervisor or adjuster push you past that date.
The Commission, which sits in Jackson, is an administrative body rather than a court. Contested claims are heard by an Administrative Judge in an evidentiary hearing, and either side can seek review by the Full Commission. That review is based on the record already made, not a new trial, so the evidence you build at the first hearing is the evidence you live with. A final Commission award can be appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court within 30 days, and the Supreme Court often assigns those cases to the Mississippi Court of Appeals. Missing that 30-day window can end the appeal, which is one reason we get involved early.
One common mistake is returning to work before your doctor clears you because the insurer or employer pushes. Another is treating with a doctor who will not tie your condition to your job. Talk with a Yazoo City workers’ comp attorney before you give a recorded statement or accept a light-duty offer you cannot physically perform.
What Benefits Mississippi Comp Actually Pays
Mississippi comp covers reasonable and necessary medical treatment related to the injury, including surgery, therapy, medications, and mileage. It also replaces lost wages. Temporary total disability and permanent total disability benefits pay two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a statutory weekly maximum that is adjusted periodically, for no more than 450 weeks. Permanent partial disability benefits are also capped at 450 weeks in most cases, and the amount depends on your wage loss and your impairment.
Vocational rehabilitation can matter a great deal for a worker who cannot return to heavy labor. A Delta farmhand or equipment mechanic with a ruined shoulder may need retraining, and the loss of earning capacity should be part of how the claim is valued and settled.
Some injuries involve a second party. If a negligent driver hit your work truck or a contractor’s unsafe site caused your fall, you may have a personal injury claim in addition to comp. We handle those as well, and we make sure the two claims support each other rather than collide.
Common Questions From Yazoo City Injured Workers
Do I need a lawyer for a workers’ compensation claim in Yazoo City?
Not every claim needs one. But if your benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or stopped, or if you will be out of work for a long time, a lawyer can change the outcome. The insurer has adjusters and attorneys looking after its interests, and you should have someone doing the same for you.
How much does it cost to hire your firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and we are paid only if we recover benefits or a settlement. Fees in Mississippi comp cases are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report my injury?
Tell your employer within 30 days of the accident. Do it right away if you can, since delay invites the argument that the injury was not work related.
How long do I have to file a claim?
Generally two years from the date of injury, by filing a Petition to Controvert with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. If compensation was paid, the period can run from the last payment. The rules for notice and limitations are in Miss. Code 71-3-35.
Am I covered if I was just hired?
Yes. Mississippi coverage starts the first day of employment, with no waiting period and no minimum earnings requirement, as long as your employer is subject to the Act.
Can I be fired for filing a comp claim?
Mississippi law protects workers from retaliation for filing a claim. If you were fired, demoted, or punished after reporting an injury, tell us at your consultation so we can look at your options.
The insurer says my injury is a pre-existing condition. Is my claim over?
No. If your job caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. This is one of the most common denial arguments, and a clear medical opinion on causation is how we answer it.
What happens if my claim is denied?
You can file a Petition to Controvert and have the dispute heard by an Administrative Judge at the Commission. The hearing is evidence-driven, so medical records, witness accounts, and your work history all matter. Either side can then seek review by the Full Commission.
How are my weekly checks calculated, and how long can they last?
Total disability benefits are two-thirds of your average weekly wage, subject to a statutory weekly maximum that the state adjusts over time. Total disability payments cannot run longer than 450 weeks, and the same ceiling applies to most permanent partial disability awards.
Can I still bring a claim if I live in Yazoo City but was hurt in Louisiana?
Possibly. Where you were hurt, where you were hired, and where your employer operates can all affect which state’s law applies. Louisiana has its own deadlines, including a general one-year filing period, so tell us the full story early and we will sort out where your claim belongs.
Can I sue someone besides my employer?
If a third party such as a negligent driver or outside contractor caused your injury, you may have a separate injury claim in addition to comp. Mississippi follows pure comparative negligence, meaning your recovery is reduced by your share of fault rather than barred outright.
Do you speak Spanish?
Yes. Hablamos español, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with our team in their own language from the first call through the end of the case.
Serving Yazoo City and the Delta’s Injured Workers
We represent injured workers in Yazoo City and throughout Yazoo County, including Satartia, Bentonia, Benton, Eden, Holly Bluff, and the farming communities that surround them. Next door, we help workers in Holmes County, Madison County, Warren County including Vicksburg, Sharkey and Issaquena counties, Humphreys County, and the wider Delta from Belzoni and Indianola to Greenwood and Greenville. Toward the capital region, we serve Canton, Flora, Ridgeland, Madison, Clinton, Brandon, and Jackson.
Our work reaches well beyond that. We represent workers on the Gulf Coast, in Hattiesburg, Southaven, and north Mississippi, and across Louisiana in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and South and north Louisiana. Whether you were hurt in a Yazoo County plant, on a Delta farm, or on a highway job site, the same team is available to you.
Talk With a Yazoo City Workers’ Compensation Attorney Today
If you were hurt at work, the insurer already has people building its position. Speak with a Yazoo City workers’ compensation attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe before you give a statement, sign anything, or let a deadline slip. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call us, tell us what happened, and we will tell you where your claim stands and what to do next.
