Biloxi Manufacturing Plant Injury Lawyer
A manufacturing plant injury is rarely the end of the legal story, because the machine, the chemical, or the forklift that hurt you often belongs to someone other than your employer. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that represents injured workers across Mississippi and Louisiana, and a Biloxi manufacturing plant injury lawyer from our team can look at both the comp claim and any outside claim that grows out of the same accident. Harrison County, the Gulf Coast, and the surrounding communities are home to shipyards, fabrication shops, food and seafood processing, and industrial plants where this kind of injury is a constant risk.
Plant injuries tend to be serious. Crush injuries from presses and conveyors, amputations, burns from heat and chemicals, falls from platforms, and the slow damage of repetitive heavy work all produce long recoveries and real questions about whether a worker will ever return to the same job. Insurers know that the larger the claim, the more reason they have to look for ways to shrink it, and that is where having a firm that handles nothing but injured workers’ claims matters.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Plant Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers throughout Mississippi and Louisiana, including Biloxi, Harrison County, and the rest of the Gulf Coast. We have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for our clients. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and we speak Spanish with clients from the first call to the end of the case.
The people behind that work matter. 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 regularly appears before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher complete the attorney team.
Results show what that experience looks like in practice. We obtained a $685,000 settlement for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns to the lower extremities. We have also handled a $135,000 settlement for a diesel mechanic with a SLAP tear, the kind of shoulder injury that shows up in heavy industrial work. Clients describe a team that listens, answers questions, and stays in the fight with the insurance company at every step.
Common Injuries and Claim Types in Biloxi Plants
- Crush and Caught-In Injuries: Presses, rollers, conveyors, and unguarded machinery can crush or amputate hands, arms, and feet. These claims often involve surgery, prosthetics, and permanent impairment, and they raise questions about whether a defective machine or a contractor’s work created a separate claim.
- Burns and Chemical Exposure: Heat, steam, welding, and industrial chemicals cause burns that need specialized wound care and sometimes repeated procedures. The same kind of severe lower-extremity burns led to a $221,000 settlement for one of our oil rig clients.
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Lifting, bending, and repetitive loading wear down discs, and a single incident can herniate one. Insurers commonly blame degenerative disc disease, so the medical evidence has to connect the work to the injury.
- Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Torn rotator cuffs, SLAP tears, ACL tears, and meniscus tears come from pulling, climbing, and working on hard floors. Employers sometimes call these old sports injuries, and we answer that with treating-doctor opinions and work history.
- Fractures: Falls from platforms and ladders, dropped loads, and forklift incidents break feet, ankles, hips, and other bones, often requiring specialists and complex surgical repair.
- Forklift and Vehicle Accidents on Site: Powered industrial trucks and delivery traffic around a plant can injure workers, and when a driver who does not work for your employer is responsible, a personal injury claim may sit alongside comp.
- Occupational Illness and Repetitive Trauma: Hearing loss, breathing problems from fumes and dust, and cumulative injuries to hands, wrists, and backs develop over time and are often disputed on the question of when and where they began.
- Wrongful Death: When a plant accident kills a worker, the family may have death benefits under comp and, in some cases, a separate wrongful death claim against a negligent third party.
What to Do After a Plant Accident on the Mississippi Gulf Coast
Get medical care first, and tell the provider the injury happened at work so it is recorded that way from the beginning. Then report the injury to your employer, preferably in writing and with the date, the location in the plant, the machine or task involved, and the names of anyone who saw it. Mississippi requires notice to the employer within 30 days of the accident. Do not let a supervisor talk you out of reporting it, and do not treat a verbal mention in passing as enough.
The filing deadline is separate. If the insurer has not paid disability benefits, a Mississippi claim generally must be filed with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission within two years of the injury, and a Petition to Controvert is the form used to start a contested claim. Payment of benefits can change how the clock runs, which is one reason to talk with a lawyer early rather than count days yourself. Coverage begins the first day you were on the job; there is no waiting period or minimum earnings requirement.
Keep the paper trail. Save your pay stubs, schedules, the incident report, text messages with supervisors, and every medical record and bill. Photograph the equipment and the area if you can do so safely or have a coworker do it. Be careful with recorded statements to the insurance adjuster, who may be looking for an inconsistency about how the accident happened or an earlier back or shoulder complaint. If the adjuster pushes you to go back to work before your doctor releases you, or stops checks without explanation, that is the point to call us.
Mississippi workers’ compensation claims are decided by the Commission rather than a court. A dispute is heard first by an Administrative Judge at an evidentiary hearing, and either side can seek review by the Full Commission, which works from the record already made rather than hearing the case over. A final Commission award can then be appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court within 30 days, and appeals are decided on the record developed before the Commission, so what gets built at the hearing level largely decides the outcome.
When Someone Other Than Your Employer Caused the Injury
Workers’ compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against your own employer, but it does not shield everyone else. A manufacturer whose guard failed, a maintenance contractor who left a machine unsafe, a general contractor on a plant expansion, or a driver who struck you outside the facility can all be separate targets. Those claims can reach damages comp does not, such as pain and suffering and the full value of lost earning capacity.
Mississippi applies pure comparative negligence in these third-party cases, so a share of fault assigned to you reduces your recovery rather than eliminating it. The general limitations period for most Mississippi negligence claims is three years from when the claim accrued, which is longer than the comp filing window, but evidence like machine maintenance logs and the machine itself disappears quickly. Coordinating the two claims also matters because the comp carrier may have a right to be repaid from a third-party recovery, and a settlement structured carelessly can hurt your benefits. Our firm represents injured people in both settings so the two claims support each other.
How Insurers Cut Down Plant Injury Claims
The arguments are predictable. The carrier says the injury did not happen at work, that it was caused by a pre-existing condition, or that you were not following a safety rule. A pre-existing condition does not end a claim; if work caused, worsened, or accelerated it, benefits may still be owed. Wage-loss benefits in Mississippi are generally two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a weekly statutory maximum, and for total disability they are limited to 450 weeks. For permanent partial disability in cases outside the scheduled-member categories, payments also stop at 450 weeks, so the disability rating and the medical restrictions drive the value of the claim.
Benefits also cover reasonable and necessary medical treatment, and disputes over surgery approvals, choice of doctor, and release to light duty are common. Anyone hurt in a Louisiana plant should know that state has its own rules: notice to the employer within 30 days, a formal claim generally within one year, supplemental earnings benefits for those who return at reduced pay, and a 520-week cap on those benefits. We handle claims in both states.
Biloxi Plant Injury Questions Answered
Do I need a lawyer for a manufacturing plant injury claim?
Not every claim requires one, but if your injury is serious, will keep you out of work for a while, or the insurer has denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off benefits, a lawyer can make a major difference. The carrier has adjusters and lawyers protecting its interests, and you should have someone protecting yours.
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 a plant injury in Mississippi?
You must report it to your employer within 30 days of the accident. Report it right away and in writing whenever you can, because delay gives the insurer an argument.
How long do I have to file my claim?
In Mississippi, if no disability benefits have been paid, you generally have two years from the injury to file with the Workers’ Compensation Commission. Exceptions apply when benefits have already been paid, so speak with an attorney as soon as possible.
Am I covered if I was only on the job a few days?
Yes. Mississippi coverage begins on your first day of employment, with no waiting period and no minimum earnings requirement, provided your employer is required to carry coverage.
Can I be fired for filing a workers’ compensation claim?
Mississippi protects workers from retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were let go, disciplined, or had your hours cut after reporting an injury, tell us during your consultation so we can review your options.
The company says my back injury is just degenerative disc disease. Is my claim dead?
No. If your work caused, aggravated, or accelerated the condition, benefits may still be owed. Strong medical opinions tying the injury to specific duties are how we answer this argument.
Can I sue the manufacturer of the machine that hurt me?
Possibly. Comp generally bars suits against your employer, but a negligent equipment maker, contractor, or other outside party can be a separate defendant. Your own share of fault, if any, reduces a Mississippi recovery rather than ending it.
What if my employer’s insurer sends me to its own doctor?
Be careful. An insurer-selected doctor may minimize your restrictions or push an early release to work. We can review your options for treating physicians and challenge opinions that do not match your medical records.
Will my health insurance pay while my comp claim is pending?
Sometimes, but it creates complications because the comp carrier is supposed to pay for work-related treatment. If the carrier is denying care, tell us before you rely on other coverage, so a reimbursement dispute does not come back on you later.
What happens if my employer says it has no workers’ compensation coverage?
Do not assume you have no remedy. Mississippi requires coverage from employers with five or more employees, and failure to carry it can open other avenues of recovery. Bring everything you have about your employment to the consultation.
I live in Mississippi but was hurt at a plant in Louisiana. Which rules apply?
It depends on the facts, including where you were hired and where the injury happened. We handle claims in both states, which means we can look at which state’s benefits and deadlines fit your situation.
Serving Plant Injury Clients Across Biloxi and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
We represent injured workers in Biloxi and throughout Harrison County, including Gulfport, D’Iberville, Long Beach, Pass Christian, and Diamondhead. Our reach continues east into Jackson County and the Pascagoula and Moss Point industrial corridor, and west through the Hancock County communities along the coast. Inland, we serve workers in Hattiesburg and the Pine Belt and in Madison and Jackson, as well as in Southaven and north Mississippi and across the Delta. In Louisiana, we represent clients in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport and throughout South Louisiana and north Louisiana. Shipyards, fabrication shops, seafood and food processing, and chemical and industrial plants generate injuries across all of these communities, and we handle them wherever they occur.
Talk to a Biloxi Plant Injury Attorney Today
If a plant accident has left you hurt, out of work, or fighting with an insurer, a Biloxi manufacturing injury attorney from our team can review what happened, explain what benefits and claims may be available, and take over the dealings with your employer and its insurance company. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call today and tell us what happened. We help injured workers. That is all we do.
