Lafayette County Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
If you were hurt on the job in Lafayette County, Mississippi, you are probably weighing whether to hire a Lafayette County workers’ compensation lawyer or try to handle the claim yourself while an adjuster calls you for a recorded statement. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that represents injured workers across Mississippi and Louisiana, including Oxford, the rest of Lafayette County, and the surrounding north Mississippi communities.
Oxford’s economy shapes the claims we see from this area. A university town with a large hospital system, constant construction, restaurants and hotels, facilities and maintenance crews, and trucking and delivery traffic moving along the highways that cross north Mississippi produces a steady mix of injuries: nurses hurt lifting patients, laborers with disc herniations, drivers hurt in wrecks, and workers whose shoulders and knees wear out from repetitive physical work. Insurers tend to answer all of these with the same few arguments, and how you handle the first few weeks often decides how the claim goes.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Lafayette County Work Injury Claim
Most lawyers who take comp cases are personal injury attorneys who handle a work injury only when one happens to come through the door. Workers’ compensation is the center of our practice, and our attorneys bring over 75 years of combined experience to claims that have been denied, delayed, or cut off before they should have been. We serve injured workers throughout Mississippi, including Lafayette County and north Mississippi, as well as across Louisiana. You pay nothing up front, consultations are free, we advance the costs of your case, and we are paid only if we recover benefits or a settlement for you. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and we speak Spanish: hablamos español.
The results reflect that focus. We have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for our clients, including $685,000 for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, and $385,000 for a project manager injured when he was struck in his work vehicle. Back, shoulder, knee, and neck injuries run through our results, the same injuries that fill north Mississippi comp dockets.
Rob Lunsford, our founding partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Partners Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe 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 represents injured workers before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team. Clients tell us what they value most: we listen, we explain where the claim stands, and we deal with the insurance company so they do not have to.
Work Injuries We Handle for Lafayette County Workers
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Lumbar and cervical disc herniations are among the most common serious claims. Insurers often point to degenerative disc disease, and we answer with medical evidence showing how years of physical work, or one specific incident, caused or aggravated the condition.
- Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Torn rotator cuffs, SLAP tears, ACL tears, and meniscus tears are frequent in construction, maintenance, warehouse, and delivery work. When an employer calls the injury an old sports injury, we build the record to show what actually changed on the job.
- Fractures: Broken feet, ankles, hips, and other bones from falls, struck-by incidents, and equipment accidents can require specialists and complex surgical repair, with long stretches away from work.
- Vehicle Wrecks While Working: Drivers, delivery workers, and employees running errands for the employer can be hurt on the highways in and around Oxford. These claims can carry both comp benefits and a separate claim against the at-fault driver.
- Burns and Catastrophic Injuries: Industrial sites and plants produce burns, crush injuries, and other life-changing harm that calls for lifetime medical planning.
- Healthcare Worker Injuries: Nurses, aides, and technicians suffer back and shoulder injuries from patient handling, along with needle sticks and exposure illnesses.
- Firefighter and First Responder Claims: Hypertension, heart and lung disease, hepatitis, hearing loss, posttraumatic stress, and cancer tied to the job are all claims we pursue.
- Denied and Cut-Off Benefits: Claims denied outright, benefits stopped without warning, and workers pushed back to duty before a doctor clears them all call for an appeal or a formal petition.
What to Do After a Work Injury in Lafayette County
Report the injury to your employer right away, in writing if you can. Mississippi gives you 30 days from the accident, and missing that window gives the insurer an argument it should never get. Coverage begins on your first day of employment, with no waiting period, so a new hire is covered the same as a veteran employee. Get medical treatment, tell the provider the injury happened at work, and describe every body part that hurts, not only the worst one. Gaps and omissions in early medical records become the insurer’s best exhibits later.
Keep your own file: the date, time, and place of the injury, names of witnesses, photos, your job duties, and copies of anything you sign. Be careful with the adjuster. A recorded statement given before you have spoken to anyone on your side can be used to narrow or deny the claim. You are not required to guess about medical causation or to downplay your symptoms.
The deadline most people miss is the filing deadline. Under Mississippi law, if no disability benefits have been paid within two years of the injury, the right to benefits is barred unless you file a claim with the Commission within that period. Generally you have two years from the date of injury, or from the last compensation payment, to file a Petition to Controvert with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Receiving a few medical bills paid is not the same as receiving disability benefits, so do not assume the clock has stopped. The deadlines are found in Miss. Code § 71-3-35.
Mississippi comp claims are not decided by the county circuit court. They are heard by the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, which administers the law. A case is tried at an evidentiary hearing before an Administrative Judge. If either side appeals, the Full Commission reviews the record made before the judge; it is not a new trial, which is why the evidence built at the first hearing matters so much. A final Commission award can then be appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court within 30 days, and the Supreme Court often assigns those cases to the Mississippi Court of Appeals. Appeals are decided on the existing record, so what you prove at the hearing is generally what you have.
What Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Pays
Medical care is the foundation: all reasonable and necessary treatment for the work injury, including doctor visits, surgery, therapy, and prescriptions. Wage-loss benefits for temporary total disability and permanent total disability are generally two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a statutory weekly maximum, and for those categories they cannot run longer than 450 weeks. Permanent partial disability payments in most other cases are also capped at 450 weeks. The weekly maximum is adjusted over time, so ask us what applies to your injury date.
Where the numbers get contested is in the details: whether your average weekly wage included overtime and second jobs, whether a doctor’s impairment rating understates your loss, and whether you can actually earn what the insurer claims you can. An attorney matters most here, because small calculation choices compound over hundreds of weeks of benefits.
How Insurers Fight Lafayette County Claims
The playbook is familiar. The carrier says the accident did not happen at work, blames a pre-existing condition, sends you to a doctor of its own choosing, or stops paying and waits to see whether you file. A pre-existing condition does not end a claim. If work caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, benefits can still be owed. We handle these cases by gathering treating-physician opinions, prior records that show you were working without restrictions before the injury, witness accounts, and your work history, then putting that evidence in front of the Commission.
Some work injuries also involve someone other than your employer, such as a negligent driver who hit your work vehicle or a contractor whose unsafe site caused a fall. Those can support a separate personal injury claim, and we coordinate it with the comp claim so one does not undercut the other.
Questions Lafayette County Workers Ask About Comp Claims
Do I need a lawyer for a workers’ compensation claim?
Not every claim requires one, but if your benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or if you will be out of work for a long time, an attorney can make a major difference. The insurer has adjusters and lawyers protecting its interests.
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 for you. Attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report my injury?
Report it to your employer within 30 days of the accident. Sooner is better, and written notice is easier to prove than a conversation in the hallway.
How long do I have to file a claim in Mississippi?
Generally two years from the date of injury or the last compensation payment, by filing a Petition to Controvert with the Commission. If no disability benefits have been paid within two years of injury and no claim is filed, the right to benefits can be lost.
Am I covered if I just started the job?
Yes. Mississippi coverage applies from the first day of employment, with no waiting period and no minimum earnings requirement, provided the employer is covered by the law, which generally means five or more employees.
Can I be fired for filing a claim?
Mississippi protects 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.
What if the insurer says my injury is from a pre-existing condition?
That argument does not automatically end a claim. If your job caused, worsened, or sped up the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits, and strong medical evidence is how we answer the insurer.
Is my claim heard in Lafayette County court?
No. Comp claims go to the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, where an Administrative Judge hears the evidence. Court enters the picture only on appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Can I choose my own doctor?
Medical treatment choices are often disputed, and the insurer may try to steer you to its preferred providers. Talk to us before switching doctors or accepting a one-time evaluation, because opinions given early shape the whole case.
Will I lose my claim if I accept a few weeks of benefits and then they stop?
No, but the stoppage must be challenged. When benefits are cut off while your doctor still has you restricted, we pursue the claim with the Commission and seek the unpaid benefits.
Can I also sue someone besides my employer?
Often, yes. If a negligent driver, contractor, or equipment maker contributed to your injury, you may have a personal injury claim alongside comp. Mississippi follows pure comparative negligence, so your own share of fault reduces a third-party recovery rather than barring it.
What if I was hurt in Louisiana but live near Oxford?
Where the injury happened and where the employer operates affect which state’s rules apply. Louisiana generally requires a formal claim within one year, so tell us right away if any part of your job takes you across the state line.
Serving Injured Workers Across Lafayette County and North Mississippi
Our work for injured employees starts in Oxford, the county seat and the center of Lafayette County’s economy, and reaches the surrounding communities, including Abbeville, Taylor, Water Valley-area workers who commute in, and the rural stretches of the county where farm, timber, and construction jobs are common. We also help workers in neighboring counties such as Panola, Marshall, Union, Pontotoc, Calhoun, and Yalobusha, and in north Mississippi cities like Southaven in DeSoto County, as well as communities across the Delta.
Beyond north Mississippi, the firm serves injured workers throughout the state, including Jackson, Madison, Hattiesburg, and the Gulf Coast, and across Louisiana, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport, as well as South Louisiana and north Louisiana. Wherever you were hurt, the claim moves the same way: report it, document it, and put the evidence in front of the right decision-maker.
Talk With a Lafayette County Workers’ Compensation Attorney
If you have been hurt at work in Oxford or anywhere in Lafayette County, a Lafayette County workers’ compensation attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened, explain the deadlines that apply to you, and take over the dealings with your employer and its insurer. Consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call us any time, day or night, or send us your case details, and let us start on your claim.
