Webster County Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
Hurt on the job in Webster County and wondering whether to call a lawyer or let the insurance adjuster walk you through it? That decision usually gets made in the first few weeks, often before anyone has explained what the clock is doing. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that represents injured workers across Mississippi, including Webster County and the surrounding north Mississippi communities. Working with a Webster County workers’ compensation lawyer early matters because the deadlines start running at the moment of injury, not when the insurer finally gets around to a decision.
Webster County is a working county. People here commit their bodies to poultry and timber operations, furniture and manufacturing floors, trucking routes, construction crews, and county and municipal jobs. Those are physical jobs, and they produce the kinds of injuries that insurers love to argue about: backs that were “already bad,” shoulders that were “an old sports injury,” and knees that supposedly gave out on their own. Knowing how those arguments are made, and how they are answered, is most of the battle.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Webster County Work Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers in Mississippi and Louisiana, and workers’ compensation is the center of the firm’s practice. Most attorneys who take comp cases are personal injury lawyers who handle a work injury only when one happens to come through the door. This firm was built the other way around. Its attorneys bring over 75 years of combined experience to claims that have been denied, delayed, or cut off, and the firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients. For Webster County workers, the firm handles claims in the north Mississippi region and statewide.
Rob Lunsford, 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 successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict and routinely appears before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
Results tell the story better than adjectives. The firm 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 consistently describe the same things in their reviews: attorneys who listen, who stay professional, and who fight the insurance company at every step. There is no fee unless benefits are recovered, consultations are free, the firm advances case costs, phones are answered around the clock, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language.
Injuries and Claim Types We See From Webster County Workplaces
- Back, neck, and spine injuries: Lifting, loading, and repetitive motion at plants, warehouses, and farms produce lumbar and cervical disc herniations. Insurers commonly point to degenerative disc disease; the answer is medical evidence showing that years of physical work, or one specific incident, caused or worsened the condition.
- Shoulder and knee injuries: Torn rotator cuffs, SLAP tears, ACL tears, and meniscus tears are common among workers who pull, climb, and kneel all day. Expect the employer to call it an old sports injury and to push back on surgery recommendations.
- Fractures: Falls from equipment, trailers, and ladders, and crush injuries around machinery, break feet, ankles, hips, and other bones, and can require specialists and complex surgical repair.
- Burns and catastrophic injuries: Industrial settings, plants, and rigs carry fire, chemical, and heavy-equipment hazards that can leave a worker permanently changed.
- Truck driver and delivery injuries: Drivers hauling through north Mississippi get hurt in wrecks and in loading and unloading. When another driver caused the crash, a separate third-party injury claim may sit alongside the comp claim.
- Firefighter and first responder conditions: Hypertension, heart and lung disease, hepatitis, hearing loss, posttraumatic stress, and cancer tied to the job can all support claims for county and municipal responders.
- Pre-existing condition disputes: A prior injury does not end a claim. If work caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, benefits may still be owed.
What to Do After a Work Injury in Webster County
Report the injury to your employer right away, and in writing if you can. Mississippi law requires notice to the employer within 30 days of the accident, and the notice and limitation rules are found in Miss. Code § 71-3-35. Waiting because “it might get better” is the single most common way people hurt their own claims. Ask for the names of the employer’s workers’ compensation carrier and adjuster, and keep a copy of anything you sign.
Get medical attention and tell every provider that the injury happened at work, describing exactly how. Gaps in treatment and vague histories are what insurers use later to argue the injury was something else. Do not give a recorded statement to the adjuster before you understand your rights, and do not agree to return to work before your doctor releases you. Keep notes on who witnessed the accident, your pay stubs, your job duties, and every missed shift.
On deadlines: you generally have two years from the date of injury, or from the last compensation payment, to file a Petition to Controvert (Form B-5) with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. If no disability benefits have been paid within two years of the injury and no claim was filed, the right to benefits is barred. Coverage begins on the first day of employment, with no waiting period.
Mississippi comp claims are not decided by a county court. They are heard by the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, either at an evidentiary hearing before an Administrative Judge or on review before the Full Commission, which sits in Jackson. The Full Commission reviews the record made before the Administrative Judge; it is not a new trial, which is why building the record carefully the first time matters so much. A party may appeal a final Commission award to the Mississippi Supreme Court within 30 days of its filing and notice to the parties, and the Supreme Court may assign the case to the Mississippi Court of Appeals. Appeals are decided on the record the Commission made.
How Benefits Work and Where Claims Go Wrong
A covered injury entitles you to reasonable and necessary medical treatment, wage replacement while you cannot work, and compensation for permanent impairment. Wage-loss benefits for temporary and permanent total disability run at two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a weekly maximum set by the Legislature and for no more than 450 weeks. Permanent partial disability in the “other cases” category is also capped at 450 weeks. The weekly maximum is adjusted periodically, so the figure that applies to you depends on the date of your injury.
Insurers follow a familiar playbook. They argue the accident did not happen at work, blame a pre-existing condition, push you back to work before your doctor clears you, or stop paying without warning. Each of these has an answer, but the answer is built from medical records, witness accounts, and work history gathered early. A claim that sat for months with no attorney involved is usually harder to repair than one organized from the start.
Some injuries involve a party other than your employer, such as a negligent driver who hit your work truck or a contractor whose unsafe site caused a fall. Those cases can support a separate injury claim in addition to comp benefits, and the two claims need to be coordinated so one does not undercut the other. Mississippi follows pure comparative negligence for those third-party claims, so your own share of fault reduces a recovery rather than barring it. Both Mississippi and Louisiana also protect workers from being fired in retaliation for filing a comp claim.
Webster County Workers’ Compensation Questions Answered
Do I need a lawyer for a workers’ compensation claim in Webster County?
Not every claim needs one. But if benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or if the injury will keep you out of work for a long time, an attorney can make a major difference. The insurer has adjusters and lawyers protecting its interests, and you should have someone protecting yours.
How much does it cost to hire the firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of your case, and fees are collected only if benefits or a settlement are recovered. Attorney fees in comp cases are also limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report a work injury in Mississippi?
You must give your employer notice within 30 days of the accident. Do it immediately and in writing if possible, because delay hands the insurer an easy argument.
How long do I have to file a claim with the Commission?
Generally two years from the date of injury or the last compensation payment. If no disability benefits were paid in those two years and no claim was filed, the right to benefits is barred.
Who decides my case if my claim is denied?
The Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, not a jury. An Administrative Judge hears the evidence first. Either side can seek review by the Full Commission, which examines the existing record rather than starting over.
What if my injury was caused by a pre-existing condition?
A pre-existing condition does not automatically end your claim. If your job caused, worsened, or sped up the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Answering this argument with strong medical evidence is a core part of the firm’s work.
Can my employer fire me 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, raise it during your consultation so the firm can review your options.
What happens if the insurance company stops paying while I am still unable to work?
A cutoff without warning is a common tactic, often triggered by a doctor’s report or an adjuster’s disagreement. It does not end your right to benefits. A petition filed with the Commission puts the dispute before an Administrative Judge, and the medical record you have built is what carries the argument.
Can I pick my own doctor, and does it matter?
Who treats you matters a great deal, because the treating physician’s opinions on causation and restrictions drive the claim. Before you commit to a provider or accept an insurer’s referral, talk to an attorney about your choices, since switching later can be contested.
I was hurt in a wreck driving for work. Is this comp, injury, or both?
Potentially both. Comp benefits cover your medical care and wage loss regardless of who caused the crash, while a claim against the at-fault driver can reach damages comp does not. Mississippi’s pure comparative negligence rule means partial fault on your part reduces that second recovery rather than eliminating it.
Will my claim be affected if I work for a county or city in Webster County?
Public employees are generally covered by the same comp system. Claims against a county or governmental agency outside of comp, such as an injury claim, are different: the Mississippi Tort Claims Act imposes a one-year limit and notice requirements, so those deadlines are much shorter.
Do you speak Spanish?
Yes. Hablamos español, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language from the first call to the end of the case.
Serving Injured Workers From Webster County and Across North Mississippi
The firm represents workers from Webster County communities including Eupora, the county seat area of Walthall, Mantee, Maben, and the rural stretches in between. Clients also come from neighboring counties and towns, such as Ackerman in Choctaw County, Starkville and the Oktibbeha County area, Grenada, Winona and the Montgomery County area, West Point in Clay County, and Houston and Okolona to the northeast. Beyond north Mississippi, the firm serves injured workers in Madison, Jackson, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Gulf Coast, and the Delta, and statewide in Louisiana, from New Orleans and Baton Rouge to Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport. Wherever the injury happened, the claim moves through the same Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, and the firm can handle it from first notice through hearing and appeal.
Talk With a Webster County Workers’ Compensation Attorney
If you were hurt at work in Webster County, a conversation with a Webster County workers’ compensation attorney costs nothing and can keep a clock from running out on you. Call to schedule a free consultation, tell the team what happened, and find out where your claim stands. Phones are answered 24 hours a day, and you pay no fee unless the firm recovers benefits for you. We help injured workers. That is what we do.
