Meridian Forklift & Crane Accident Lawyer
A forklift or crane injury on a Meridian job site rarely belongs to just one claim. The worker’s compensation case runs through the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, while the machine, the rigging, the site owner, or a contractor who was not the worker’s employer may open a separate path in the Lauderdale County courts. Meridian forklift and crane accident lawyer help is really about keeping those two tracks coordinated from the first week. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm that represents injured workers in Meridian, across Lauderdale County, and throughout Mississippi and Louisiana, and it also handles the personal injury claims that grow out of job-site accidents.
Forklifts and cranes produce a particular kind of injury: crushing, pinning, falls from elevated forks or platforms, and being struck by a swinging or dropped load. These are rarely minor. They tend to mean surgery, long stretches off work, and an insurance adjuster who wants to know exactly what you were doing when it happened. The sections below cover how these cases are built, what deadlines apply, and what to do in the days right after the accident.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Meridian Forklift or Crane Injury
Workers’ compensation is the center of this firm’s practice, not a side matter taken when a case happens to walk in. The firm’s attorneys bring more than 75 years of combined experience, and the firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for injured workers. Rob Lunsford, 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 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. Andrew Rueff has tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, which matters when a third-party claim against an equipment owner or contractor has to be taken in front of a jury. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the team.
Results relevant to heavy-industry injuries include $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, $685,000 for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $385,000 for a project manager injured after being struck in his work vehicle, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Clients consistently describe a team that listens, stays responsive, and stands up to the insurance company at every step. The firm works on a no recovery, no fee basis, offers free consultations, advances the costs of the case, answers its phones 24 hours a day, and speaks Spanish with clients who prefer it.
Types of Forklift and Crane Injuries We Handle for Meridian Workers
- Crushing and Pinning Injuries: A worker caught between a forklift and a rack, dock, or wall can suffer pelvic fractures, crushed limbs, and internal injuries. These cases usually involve orthopedic surgery and long recovery, which drives the size of both the medical and wage-loss claims.
- Forklift Tip-Overs: Turning too fast, carrying an unstable load, or traveling on uneven ground can roll a lift truck onto its operator. Training records, maintenance logs, and load ratings often decide who is responsible beyond the employer.
- Struck-By Injuries From Loads: Pallets, steel, lumber, and pipe can slip from forks or crane rigging onto workers on foot. Head, neck, shoulder, and spine injuries are common, and insurers often blame the injured worker’s position or inattention.
- Crane Boom, Rigging, and Hoist Failures: Worn slings, failed hooks, overloaded boom limits, and bad signaling can drop a load or collapse equipment. Manufacturers, rental companies, and rigging contractors may share responsibility alongside the employer.
- Falls From Forks, Platforms, and Equipment: Workers lifted on forks or climbing on lift trucks and crane components can fall from height, producing fractures, head injuries, and spinal damage that can end a physical career.
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Even without a dramatic collision, repeated jolting on a lift truck or a sudden impact can herniate discs. When an insurer blames degenerative disc disease, the medical evidence has to show how the job caused or worsened the injury.
- Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Rotator cuff tears, SLAP tears, and meniscus tears occur when workers are jerked, struck, or twisted by moving equipment, and employers sometimes label them old sports injuries.
- Fatal Equipment Accidents: When a crane or forklift accident kills a worker, the family may have both death benefits under workers’ compensation and a wrongful death claim against a negligent third party.
What to Do After a Forklift or Crane Accident in Meridian
Start with medical care, and say plainly that the injury happened at work. Gaps in treatment and vague descriptions in early medical records are what adjusters point to later. Then report the injury to your employer. In Mississippi, you have 30 days from the accident to give notice, and it should be in writing so there is a record. Do not wait to see whether the pain improves.
The filing deadline is separate from the notice deadline. In Mississippi, you generally 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. Coverage begins on your first day on the job, with no waiting period. If you work across the state line or live in Louisiana, the rules differ: notice is still due within 30 days, but a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident.
Preserve what you can while it is fresh. Photograph the machine, the load, the floor or ground conditions, and any warning labels or damage. Write down who was operating, who was signaling, and who saw it happen. Ask for the equipment’s inspection and maintenance history, the operator’s training and certification records, and the name of the company that owns or leases the machine. Those details often reveal a third party whose negligence helped cause the accident, and they disappear quickly once the incident is reported to insurers.
Be careful with recorded statements. The employer’s insurer will often ask for one early, and anything you say about your physical condition, prior injuries, or how the accident happened can be used to dispute the claim. You are entitled to speak with an attorney first. Also avoid returning to work before your doctor clears you, and do not sign anything that releases the employer or its insurer without having it reviewed.
How Workers’ Compensation and Third-Party Claims Work Together
Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system, which means you do not have to prove your employer did anything wrong to receive medical care and wage benefits. It covers reasonable and necessary treatment, and wage loss paid at up to two-thirds of your average weekly wage, subject to a statutory weekly maximum. Total disability benefits are capped at 450 weeks in Mississippi, and permanent partial disability payments in most cases are also limited to 450 weeks. These claims are heard by an Administrative Judge, with review available before the Full Commission in Jackson, and a final award can be appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court within 30 days. Appeals are decided on the record made before the Commission, so what is built at the hearing level matters enormously.
Workers’ compensation generally prevents you from suing your own employer, but it does not stop you from pursuing others. Forklift and crane accidents often involve a manufacturer with a design or warning defect, a company that rented or maintained the equipment, a general contractor or site owner who controlled the area, or a rigging or inspection company that signed off on unsafe gear. Claims against those parties can recover damages that comp does not pay, including pain and suffering. In Mississippi, most negligence claims carry a three-year limit, and fault is shared under a pure comparative system, so your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault rather than barred. For an accident in Louisiana, the injury claim period for incidents after July 1, 2024 is two years, and for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a person found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, so the facts about fault need early attention.
How Insurers Contest Forklift and Crane Claims
Carriers rely on a familiar set of arguments. They claim the accident did not happen at work or was not reported on time, blame a pre-existing condition, say the worker violated safety rules, or push a return to work before the doctor agrees. In equipment cases they may also suggest the operator was untrained or careless. Each argument has an answer, and the answer is almost always evidence: consistent medical records, witness accounts, maintenance and training documents, and a clear work history. A pre-existing condition does not end a claim if the job caused, worsened, or accelerated it.
If benefits are cut off or a treatment request is denied, there are procedures for challenging that decision, and the clocks are short. Acting quickly after a denial is usually the difference between a correctable problem and a lost opportunity.
Forklift and Crane Accident Questions Answered
Do I need a lawyer after a forklift accident at work?
Not every claim requires one, but if your injury is serious, you will be out of work for a long time, or the insurer has denied, delayed, or cut off benefits, an attorney can change the outcome. Forklift and crane cases also frequently involve outside parties, which makes representation more valuable.
How long do I have to report a crane or forklift injury in Mississippi?
You must notify your employer within 30 days of the accident. Do it in writing and keep a copy. Waiting beyond that window gives the insurer a reason to deny the claim.
How long do I have to file my claim?
In Mississippi, you generally have two years from the date of injury, or from the last compensation payment, to file with the Workers’ Compensation Commission. Louisiana generally requires a claim within one year of the accident, with an extension possible when benefits have been paid.
What does workers’ compensation pay?
It covers reasonable and necessary medical treatment, wage replacement at up to two-thirds of your average weekly wage subject to a weekly maximum, and additional benefits for permanent disability or death. Weekly maximums are adjusted periodically, so the figure depends on your date of injury.
Can I sue my employer for a forklift accident?
Generally no, because workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy against your own employer. You can still pursue benefits through the comp system, and you may sue other responsible parties.
Who else can be held responsible besides my employer?
Equipment manufacturers, rental and leasing companies, maintenance contractors, riggers, crane operators employed by another company, and general contractors or site owners can all be responsible, depending on who controlled the machine, the load, or the work area.
What if I was partly at fault for the accident?
Workers’ compensation does not turn on fault, so your own mistakes generally do not defeat the comp claim. In a third-party case in Mississippi, your recovery is reduced by your share of fault. In Louisiana, for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, fault of 51 percent or more bars recovery.
Can I be fired for filing a comp claim?
Both Mississippi and Louisiana protect workers from retaliation for filing a claim. If you were let go or disciplined after reporting an injury, tell your attorney right away.
Will my own health insurance pay while my claim is pending?
Sometimes, but a health insurer may seek repayment from any comp or third-party recovery, and using it can complicate the comp claim. Discuss how treatment is being paid before you rely on it.
What happens to my family if a crane or forklift accident was fatal?
Dependents may be eligible for death benefits through workers’ compensation and may also have a wrongful death claim against a negligent third party. In Mississippi, wrongful death from negligence generally carries a three-year limit. In Louisiana, the period is the longer of one year from death or two years from injury.
What does it cost to hire the firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, the firm advances case costs, and fees are collected only if benefits or a settlement are recovered. Fees in workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
Can you help if I do not speak English well?
Yes. Hablamos espanol, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language from the first call through the end of the case.
Serving Injured Workers in Meridian and Across Lauderdale County
The firm represents injured workers in Meridian and throughout Lauderdale County, including those who work at warehouses, distribution centers, construction sites, and industrial yards in and around the city. Clients also come from the surrounding east Mississippi communities in neighboring counties such as Newton, Kemper, Neshoba, Clarke, and Jasper. Across Mississippi, the team handles claims from Jackson and Madison to the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi.
The same coverage extends into Louisiana, where the firm represents workers hurt in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and communities across south and north Louisiana. Whether a forklift or crane accident happened at a Meridian facility or at a job site hours away, the claim can be handled from the same team that understands both states’ systems.
Talk With a Meridian Forklift and Crane Accident Attorney
If a forklift or crane hurt you at work, the deadlines are already running and the evidence is already changing. A Meridian forklift and crane accident attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review your injury, explain what benefits you are owed, and identify any third party who should answer for the accident. Call us any time of day for a free consultation. You pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you.
