Lake Charles Forklift & Crane Accident Lawyer
If you were hurt by a forklift or a crane at a plant, yard, dock, or construction site in Calcasieu Parish, you are probably already hearing two different stories: one from your employer’s insurer, and one from your own body. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that represents injured workers across Louisiana and Mississippi, including Lake Charles and the surrounding parishes, and a Lake Charles forklift and crane accident lawyer at our firm can sort out which claims you actually have before an insurer sorts them out for you.
Forklift and crane injuries are rarely simple. A pallet jack operator is pinned between a lift and a rack. A rigger is struck by a swinging load. A ground worker is crushed when an outrigger fails on soft soil. These accidents tend to produce crush injuries, fractures, back and spine damage, and amputations, and they often involve more than one company on the same site. That second fact matters, because it can mean a workers’ compensation claim against your employer’s carrier and a separate injury claim against someone else.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Forklift or Crane Injury Claim
Most attorneys who take comp cases are personal injury lawyers who handle a work injury only when one walks through the door. We have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for our clients, and we serve injured workers in Lake Charles and throughout South Louisiana, as well as across Mississippi.
Rob Lunsford, our 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 in 2026 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. Andrew Rueff has successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, which matters when a forklift or crane accident also produces a third-party lawsuit. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorneys who work these cases.
Our results show the kind of injuries these accidents cause. We 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 with back injuries after being struck in his work vehicle, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee an outcome, but they reflect the work we do. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of your case, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and hablamos espanol.
Common Forklift and Crane Injury Situations We Handle
- Crush and pinning injuries: A worker caught between a forklift and a rack, dock edge, wall, or trailer can suffer pelvic fractures, internal injuries, and leg crush damage. These often require multiple surgeries and long recoveries, which drives both medical costs and wage loss.
- Struck-by-load accidents: Loads that slip from forks, shift in transit, or swing from a crane hook injure ground crews, riggers, and signal workers. Head, neck, and spine injuries are common, and the question of who rigged or secured the load becomes central.
- Forklift tip-overs: Overloaded forks, sharp turns, uneven ground, and raised loads can roll a forklift onto its operator. Operators who are thrown or pinned often suffer fractures and back injuries, and the insurer may try to blame operator error.
- Crane collapse and boom failures: Mobile and tower cranes can fail from overloading, poor ground preparation, mechanical defects, or contact with power lines. Industrial and construction work around Lake Charles uses heavy lifting equipment routinely, and these failures tend to produce catastrophic injuries.
- Back, neck, and spine injuries: Even without a dramatic collision, jolting stops and repetitive operation can herniate lumbar or cervical discs. When an insurer blames degenerative disc disease, we show how the job caused or worsened the injury.
- Fractures and amputations: Feet, ankles, hips, and legs are especially vulnerable around moving forklifts. Complex repairs often require specialists, and permanent impairment can support longer-term benefits.
- Burns and catastrophic injuries: Lifts near energized lines, fuel, or hot process equipment can cause burns and other life-changing harm on industrial job sites.
- Fatal accidents: When a forklift or crane accident kills a worker, surviving family members may have comp death benefits and, depending on the facts, a wrongful death claim against a third party.
What to Do After a Forklift or Crane Accident in Calcasieu Parish
Get medical care first, and tell every provider that the injury happened at work and how. Crush injuries and spine injuries can look manageable on the day and worsen over the following days, so do not accept “walk it off” from a supervisor. Then report the accident to your employer. In Louisiana, the law requires notice to your employer within 30 days of the injury, and a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident. If compensation payments have already been made, that deadline can stretch to three years from the last payment, but do not count on an exception. Write the report down, keep a copy, and note who you told.
Document everything you can. Photograph the equipment, the load, the floor or ground conditions, and your injuries. Get names of coworkers who saw it. Note the forklift or crane identification, the company that owned or leased it, and who was operating or directing it. If you can recall whether the operator was certified, whether the load was properly rigged, or whether the equipment had been giving trouble, write that down too. Do not give a recorded statement to the insurance adjuster before you talk to a lawyer, and do not sign broad medical releases.
Louisiana workers’ compensation claims are heard by workers’ compensation judges in the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. If the carrier denies a recommended treatment, the dispute goes through a medical review process with tight deadlines. The request for review (Form 1009) must be filed within 15 calendar days of getting written notice of the denial, the OWC medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide, and a further challenge through Form 1008 must be filed within 45 days of the decision being issued. Missing these windows can cost you the treatment you need.
If a workers’ compensation judge issues a final judgment you disagree with, an appeal goes to the Louisiana court of appeal. Calcasieu Parish falls within the Third Circuit. A suspensive appeal must be filed within 30 days, and a devolutive appeal within 60 days, running from the day after the judgment was signed or the day after notice of judgment was mailed, whichever is later. After that, review by the Louisiana Supreme Court is by writ application.
Workers’ Comp Versus a Third-Party Claim
Workers’ compensation is the starting point, and in most cases it is the only claim against your own employer. It pays reasonable and necessary medical treatment, weekly wage benefits while you cannot work, supplemental earnings benefits if you return at reduced pay, and additional benefits for permanent disability. Supplemental earnings benefits are generally two-thirds of the difference between your pre-injury wages and what you earn or are able to earn, and they apply when you cannot earn at least 90 percent of your old wage. They can continue until you return to full duty, reach pre-injury wages, or hit the 520-week maximum, and weeks of temporary total disability count toward that limit. Weekly rates are capped, and the cap is fixed by the date of your accident.
Comp does not pay for pain and suffering. That is where a third-party claim can matter. Forklift and crane sites are crowded with other businesses: the crane owner or rental company, the general contractor, a subcontractor whose crew was rigging or signaling, the manufacturer of a defective lift or load-bearing component, or the company that serviced the equipment. If one of them was negligent, you may be able to bring a personal injury claim alongside your comp case. In Louisiana, injuries on or after July 1, 2024 generally carry a two-year period to file a tort claim, and earlier injuries remain under the older one-year period. Louisiana also now bars recovery for a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, and fault below that line reduces recovery proportionally, so how fault is assigned on the job site is a bigger deal than it used to be. Our attorneys coordinate the two claims so that a comp settlement does not undercut a third-party case, and vice versa.
If a worker died, wrongful death claims in Louisiana follow a one-year-from-death or two-years-from-injury rule, whichever is longer. Families should talk to us promptly rather than testing those limits.
How Insurers Fight Forklift and Crane Claims
The playbook is familiar. The carrier may argue the accident did not happen at work, that you were violating a safety rule, or that a back or knee problem was already there. It may push you back to light duty before your doctor clears you, or stop paying without warning. A pre-existing condition does not automatically end a claim if your job caused, worsened, or sped it up, and we build the medical evidence to answer that argument. For heavy-equipment accidents, we also look at the things insurers hope you will not: maintenance records, operator training and certification, load charts, rigging practices, and who actually controlled the lift.
Frequently Asked Questions About Forklift and Crane Accident Claims
Do I need a lawyer after a forklift accident at work?
Not every claim requires one, but if your benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or your injury will keep you out of work for a long time, an attorney can make a major difference. Forklift and crane cases often involve serious injuries and possible third-party claims, which raises the stakes.
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 work injury in Louisiana?
Report it to your employer right away, and no later than 30 days after the injury. A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, with a possible extension to three years from the last compensation payment if benefits have been paid.
What benefits can I get after a crane or forklift injury?
Louisiana comp covers all reasonable and necessary medical treatment, wage replacement while you are temporarily unable to work, supplemental earnings benefits if you return at reduced pay, and additional benefits for permanent disability, catastrophic injury, or death.
Can I sue my employer for a forklift accident?
Generally, workers’ compensation is your remedy against your own employer. But if someone else, such as an equipment owner, contractor, or manufacturer, helped cause the accident, you may have a separate injury claim against them.
What if my employer says I caused the accident?
Comp is largely a no-fault system, so operator error usually does not erase your benefits. Fault matters more in a third-party lawsuit, where Louisiana’s 51 percent bar can apply to newer causes of action, so how the facts are documented from day one matters.
Can I be fired for filing a claim after a forklift injury?
Both Louisiana and Mississippi protect 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.
The insurer denied my surgery. What can I do?
Louisiana has a dedicated dispute process for denied treatment. You have 15 calendar days from written notice of the denial to file Form 1009 with the OWC, and the medical director then has 30 days to rule. Because these deadlines are short, call us as soon as you receive a denial.
What if the forklift or crane belonged to a different company than my employer?
That is common on shared job sites and can open a third-party claim against the equipment owner, renter, or operator’s company. We look at who owned, leased, maintained, and controlled the equipment.
I was hurt in Mississippi, not Louisiana. Do you handle that?
Yes. In Mississippi, you must report the injury within 30 days and generally file a petition with the Workers’ Compensation Commission within two years of the injury or the last compensation payment. Coverage begins on the first day of employment, and appeals from a Commission award go to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Will I still get paid while my claim is pending?
If the claim is accepted, weekly wage benefits and medical treatment should be paid. If it is disputed, benefits may be delayed until a judge decides, which is one reason early legal help matters. Do not assume a denial is final.
Can a family member bring a claim if a worker died in a crane accident?
Possibly. Surviving family members may be entitled to comp death benefits, and may also have a wrongful death claim against a negligent third party. Louisiana applies a one-year-from-death or two-years-from-injury period, whichever is longer.
Serving Forklift and Crane Accident Clients Across Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana
We represent injured workers throughout Calcasieu Parish, including Lake Charles, Sulphur, Westlake, Vinton, DeQuincy, and Iowa, along with the industrial corridors, ports, and job sites that surround them. We also serve clients in neighboring parishes and communities across South Louisiana, including Lafayette and the Acadiana region, as well as Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Shreveport and north Louisiana. Whether your accident happened at a plant, a shipyard, a warehouse, or a construction site, we can help.
Our work reaches into Mississippi as well, from Jackson and Madison to the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi. If your job took you across state lines, we can look at which state’s law applies and how to protect your claim.
Talk to a Lake Charles Forklift and Crane Accident Attorney Today
You do not have to sort out a heavy-equipment injury claim on your own while you are trying to heal. A Lake Charles forklift and crane accident attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened, identify every claim available to you, and deal with your employer and its insurer so you can focus on recovery. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call us today to talk through your case.
