Tupelo Head & Brain Injury Lawyer
A blow to the head on a Lee County job site, a fall from a loading dock, or a wreck in a work truck on Highway 45 can leave a worker who feels “mostly fine” at the scene and then struggling with memory, headaches, and sleep a few weeks later. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm that represents injured workers across Mississippi and Louisiana, and for people in Tupelo and the surrounding Northeast Mississippi communities, a Tupelo head and brain injury lawyer from our team can take over the claim while you focus on treatment and recovery.
Head injuries are some of the hardest workers’ compensation claims to prove because the damage is often invisible. A concussion may not show on a standard CT scan. A traumatic brain injury can change concentration, mood, balance, and the ability to hold a job without leaving a single visible mark. Insurance carriers know this, and they tend to respond with the same arguments: the symptoms are stress, the problems predate the accident, or the worker has recovered enough to go back. Answering those arguments takes neurological records, consistent treatment, and a clear account of how the injury changed your work.
Tupelo’s economy is built on manufacturing, furniture production, healthcare, trucking, and construction, and each of those settings produces head trauma in its own way: falling objects in plants, forklift and conveyor incidents, ladder and scaffold falls, and highway collisions involving commercial vehicles. Whatever the cause, the claim usually turns on the same question: can the medical evidence connect the cognitive and physical symptoms to the day you were hurt?
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC for a Brain Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that represents injured workers throughout Mississippi and Louisiana, including Tupelo and communities across north Mississippi. Most attorneys who take comp cases are personal injury lawyers who handle a work injury only when one happens to come through the door. Our firm was built the other way around: 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 have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for our clients.
Founding partner Rob Lunsford 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 represents injured workers before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, and Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
Serious injuries to the back, shoulder, and other parts of the body have produced significant results 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 after being struck in his work vehicle. Head and brain injury claims share the same dynamics as those cases: heavy medical documentation, an insurer looking for an alternative explanation, and a worker who needs someone to build the evidence. We advance the costs of your case, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with our team in their own language, because hablamos español.
Types of Head and Brain Injuries We See in Work Injury Claims
- Concussions and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: These often follow a fall, a strike from a falling tool or material, or a collision in a work vehicle. Imaging may look normal, so the claim rests on symptom reporting, neurological evaluation, and treatment records. Insurers frequently call these injuries temporary even when symptoms linger for months.
- Moderate and Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: Falls from scaffolding, roofs, and ladders on construction sites, and crushing or struck-by incidents in industrial settings, can cause bleeding, swelling, or skull fractures. These claims involve hospitalization, rehabilitation, and often permanent limitations that affect whether a worker can return to the same job.
- Post-Concussion Symptoms: Persistent headaches, dizziness, light sensitivity, memory lapses, trouble concentrating, irritability, and sleep disruption can continue long after the accident. These symptoms are real and compensable when tied to the work injury, but they are exactly what carriers label as unrelated or exaggerated.
- Skull Fractures and Facial Trauma: Impact injuries from machinery, vehicles, or falling objects can fracture the skull or face and cause underlying brain injury even when the fracture itself heals. Specialist care and surgical repair add to the medical record that supports the claim.
- Vehicle Collisions on the Job: Delivery drivers, truck drivers, and employees running work errands can suffer head trauma in crashes on routes through Tupelo and along the Highway 45 and Natchez Trace corridors. These cases may support both a comp claim and a separate claim against the at-fault driver.
- Exposure-Related Brain Injury: Toxic chemical exposure, carbon monoxide, and oxygen deprivation in industrial and manufacturing environments can damage the brain without any blow to the head. Proving these claims requires medical and workplace evidence tying the exposure to the diagnosis.
- Second Impact and Aggravation Injuries: A worker with a prior concussion who suffers another head injury on the job may face an insurer arguing the old injury is to blame. A pre-existing condition does not automatically defeat a claim when work caused, worsened, or accelerated the problem.
What to Do After a Head Injury at Work in Northeast Mississippi
Get medical attention immediately, even if you feel steady on your feet. Head injuries can worsen over hours or days, and a delay in treatment gives the insurer an opening to argue that something else caused your symptoms. Tell the doctor exactly how you were hurt and describe every symptom, including ones that seem minor such as trouble finding words, sensitivity to noise, or unusual fatigue. In Tupelo, injured workers commonly go to the emergency department at a local hospital first and are then referred to neurology or other specialists. Keep every record, discharge paper, and prescription.
Report the injury to your employer right away, and in writing if you can. Mississippi requires you to give notice within 30 days of the accident, and the sooner the better, because a vague or late report invites a dispute about what happened. Coverage under Mississippi’s system begins on your first day of employment, with no waiting period. The claim itself is handled through the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, an administrative body rather than a court. If benefits are not being paid, the worker generally has two years from the date of injury or the last payment to file a Petition to Controvert with the Commission. Brain injury symptoms can take time to be diagnosed, so do not let that clock run while you wait to see how you feel.
Write down what you experience in a simple daily log: headaches, memory problems, missed tasks, dizzy spells, and anything you can no longer do at work or at home. Coworkers who saw the accident or noticed changes in you afterward can be important witnesses, so get their names. Be careful with recorded statements to the adjuster, and do not minimize your symptoms to be polite; a casual “I’m doing okay” can show up later as evidence that you recovered. Avoid returning to full duty before your treating physician clears you, and do not skip appointments, since gaps in treatment are another common basis for denial.
If your claim is denied, your case moves toward a hearing before an Administrative Judge, and either side can then seek review by the Full Commission, which examines the record made at the hearing rather than holding a new trial. A final Commission award can be appealed within 30 days, and the appeal is decided on that same record. That is why the evidence has to be built early: medical opinions, treatment history, and testimony all need to be in place before the hearing, not after.
How Insurers Contest Brain Injury Claims and How the Evidence Answers Them
The most common defense is that the symptoms are not objectively documented. When a CT or MRI comes back normal, adjusters often treat the case as closed. In reality, many brain injuries are diagnosed through neurological examination, neuropsychological testing, and consistent specialist records rather than a single scan. Having a treating physician who connects the symptoms to the workplace incident is the foundation of the claim.
The second common defense is pre-existing conditions. Carriers search medical history for prior headaches, depression, anxiety, or earlier head trauma and argue the current problems are old. Mississippi law does not require a perfectly healthy worker. If your job caused, worsened, or accelerated a condition, benefits may still be owed. The key is a medical opinion that explains what changed after the accident.
The third is return-to-work pressure. Cognitive symptoms are hard to measure, so insurers may push for a release to full duty or point to a physician who cleared you after a brief visit. Wage-loss benefits in Mississippi are generally two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a statutory weekly maximum and for a limited number of weeks, and the length of those payments is capped by law, which makes accurate disability findings critical. A brain injury that prevents you from doing your old job but does not stop all work can still support a partial disability award, and settlements often turn on how clearly the medical record documents those restrictions.
Finally, some head injuries involve someone besides your employer, such as a negligent driver or a contractor who left a site unsafe. In Mississippi, a negligence claim against a third party generally must be filed within three years under the general statute, and a worker’s own share of fault reduces a recovery rather than barring it. We coordinate the comp claim and any injury claim so they work together instead of against each other.
Frequently Asked Questions About Head and Brain Injury Claims in Tupelo
Is a concussion covered by workers’ compensation in Mississippi?
Yes. A concussion that results from your work is a compensable injury, and benefits can include reasonable medical treatment and wage replacement if you cannot work. Because concussions often do not show on imaging, the claim depends on prompt treatment and well-documented symptoms.
How soon do I have to report a head injury to my employer?
Report it to your employer right away, and no later than 30 days after the accident in Mississippi. Late notice gives the insurer a reason to dispute the claim, so put the report in writing and keep a copy.
How long do I have to file a claim if my symptoms appeared later?
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. If you are still experiencing symptoms and nothing has been filed, speak with an attorney well before that window closes.
What wage benefits can I receive while I recover?
Temporary and permanent total disability benefits are generally two-thirds of your average weekly wage, subject to a statutory weekly maximum, and they cannot exceed 450 weeks. Partial disability benefits are also limited to 450 weeks in most cases. The exact figures depend on your wages and your doctor’s findings.
Will workers’ compensation pay for neurologists and rehabilitation?
Medical benefits cover reasonable and necessary treatment for the work injury, which can include emergency care, specialist visits, diagnostic testing, therapy, and prescriptions. If the insurer refuses to authorize a recommended provider or treatment, that denial can be challenged.
The insurance company says my headaches and memory problems were there before the accident. Can I still get benefits?
Often, yes. A pre-existing condition does not end a claim if the work injury caused, worsened, or accelerated it. Medical evidence comparing your condition before and after the accident is usually what resolves the dispute.
My scans are normal. Can I still have a valid brain injury claim?
Yes. Many mild brain injuries do not appear on routine CT or MRI. Neurological exams, neuropsychological testing, and consistent treatment records can establish the injury even when imaging is clear.
Can I go back to work if I still have cognitive symptoms?
Only when your treating physician releases you, and with any restrictions the doctor sets. Returning too early, or accepting a release from an insurer-selected doctor you saw once, can hurt both your health and your claim. Tell your doctor honestly how you are handling the job.
What if I was hurt in a work vehicle by another driver?
You may have a workers’ compensation claim and a separate injury claim against the at-fault driver. The two claims interact, particularly on reimbursement of benefits, which is why they should be handled together. Mississippi uses pure comparative negligence, so partial fault on your part reduces rather than eliminates a recovery.
Can my employer fire me for filing a brain injury claim?
Mississippi protects workers from retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were let go or punished after reporting your injury, tell us in your consultation so we can review your options.
Do I need a lawyer if the insurer is paying my medical bills?
Not every claim requires one, but brain injuries often have long-term effects that are not obvious at first. If benefits are denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or if you may be out of work for an extended period, legal help can matter a great deal. The firm’s fees in comp cases are limited and approved under state law, and we are paid only if we recover for you.
Does the firm handle Louisiana cases too?
Yes. We represent injured workers in both Mississippi and Louisiana. Louisiana has its own rules, including a one-year filing period for a formal claim, so a worker hurt there should not assume Mississippi’s timeline applies.
Serving Tupelo Head Injury Clients Across Lee County and Northeast Mississippi
We represent injured workers in Tupelo and throughout Lee County, including the communities of Saltillo, Verona, Plantersville, Guntown, Baldwyn, and Shannon, and we handle claims for workers who commute into Tupelo’s plants, hospitals, and distribution facilities from nearby towns. Our clients also come from neighboring counties, including Pontotoc County and the towns of Pontotoc and Ecru, Union County and New Albany, Itawamba County and Fulton, Prentiss County and Booneville, and Monroe County and Amory and Aberdeen.
Beyond the Tupelo area, our team serves injured workers across north Mississippi, including Southaven and the DeSoto County corridor, Oxford, and the Delta, as well as Jackson, Madison, Hattiesburg, and the Gulf Coast. In Louisiana we represent workers in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and throughout south and north Louisiana. Whether a head injury happened in a Tupelo factory, on a construction site in the Delta, or on an oil field in south Louisiana, the same attention to medical proof applies.
Speak With a Tupelo Brain Injury Attorney About Your Work Injury Claim
If a head injury at work has left you with symptoms that will not go away, an insurer that is questioning your story, or a doctor who has not yet cleared you to return, a Tupelo brain injury attorney from our firm can review your situation and explain where your claim stands. Consultations are free, our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you.
Call us to schedule a consultation or send your case details to our team. We handle workers’ compensation and the injury claims that grow out of it, and we are ready to build the medical record your claim needs.
