Houma Head & Brain Injury Lawyer
A head or brain injury claim succeeds when the medical record, the employer’s accident report, and the insurer’s benefit payments all tell the same story about what happened and how much it has taken from you. Houma head and brain injury lawyer help is what Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC provides to injured workers in Terrebonne Parish and across South Louisiana, as well as in Mississippi. The firm handles workers’ compensation and related injury claims, including cases where a blow to the head on a job site, a fall from a height, or a vehicle wreck while on the clock has changed how a person thinks, remembers, and works.
Brain injuries are different from a torn shoulder or a fractured ankle because the proof can be hard to see. A worker may walk out of the emergency room with a diagnosis of “mild” concussion and then spend months with headaches, memory gaps, light sensitivity, and trouble concentrating. Adjusters tend to read the first chart and stop there. Houma’s economy, built around offshore support, marine construction, shipyards, oilfield service, and the industrial work along the bayous, produces exactly the kinds of falls, struck-by incidents, and equipment accidents that cause these injuries.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Brain Injury Claim in Houma
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, including Terrebonne Parish and the communities around Houma, Thibodaux, and the rest of South Louisiana. Workers’ compensation is the center of the firm’s practice, not a side matter taken when it happens to walk in. The firm’s attorneys bring over 75 years of combined experience and have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients. Consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of the case, and there is no fee unless benefits or a settlement are recovered. Attorney fees in comp cases are also limited and approved under state law. Phones are answered 24 hours a day, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language.
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. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out an attorney team that can take a claim from the first denial letter through a hearing and, when needed, an appeal.
The results matter for a head injury case because these claims are usually driven by the same fights as serious back and spine claims: medical causation, disputed restrictions, and an insurer that wants the worker back on the job early. The firm has secured 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 $385,000 for a project manager injured after being struck in his work vehicle. Clients describe attorneys who listen, stay in contact, and stand up to the insurance company, which is what a long-running neurological claim demands.
Head and Brain Injuries We See in Workplace Claims
- Concussions and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Often labeled minor at the emergency room because imaging looks normal. Persistent headaches, dizziness, memory lapses, and sensitivity to light and noise can still keep a worker off a rig, a forklift, or a crane. Insurers lean on the early chart to cut off treatment.
- Falls From Height: Scaffolds, ladders, vessel decks, loading docks, and elevated work platforms at shipyards and industrial sites in the Houma area. A fall that lands on the head can produce skull fractures, bleeding on the brain, and lasting cognitive change.
- Struck-By and Dropped-Object Injuries: Pipe, tools, rigging, and equipment falling or swinging into a worker, common in oilfield service, marine construction, and plant maintenance work. Hard hats reduce risk but do not eliminate it.
- Vehicle and Equipment Collisions: Crashes in work trucks, service vehicles, and delivery vans on the highways and parish roads around Houma, and incidents involving forklifts or heavy machinery on job sites. These can produce comp benefits and a separate claim against a negligent third party.
- Burns, Explosions, and Blast Exposure: Plant and rig incidents can cause head trauma alongside burns. The firm also handles burns and catastrophic injuries suffered on oil rigs and industrial sites.
- Post-Concussion and Cognitive Symptoms: Problems with attention, memory, mood, sleep, and balance that develop or persist after the original injury. These symptoms are real even when they are hard to photograph, and they need treating physicians who document them carefully.
- Fatal Head Injuries: When a workplace head injury causes death, dependents may be entitled to death benefits under comp, and a wrongful death claim may exist against someone other than the employer.
What to Do After a Head Injury at Work in Louisiana
Get medical attention first, and tell every provider that the injury happened at work and that you hit your head or were struck. Symptoms of a brain injury can build over hours or days, so do not let a clear scan or a quick discharge talk you out of follow-up care. If you feel foggy, nauseated, unusually irritable, or are having trouble finding words in the days afterward, go back and say so. Those complaints belong in the chart.
Report the injury to your employer promptly. Under Louisiana law, no compensation proceeding is maintained unless the employer receives notice within thirty days of the injury, and a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the date of injury. If the insurer has paid benefits, the filing window may extend to three years from the last payment, but do not count on that. Write down who you told and when, and keep copies of anything you sign.
Disputes about treatment move fast. If the insurer denies a treatment request, the dispute goes through the Office of Workers’ Compensation utilization review process: Form 1009 must be filed within 15 calendar days of receiving written notice of the denial, and the OWC medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide. After that decision, a party has 45 days from the date it was issued to file Form 1008 under R.S. 23:1203.1. Missing these dates can cost you an MRI, a neurologist, or a neuropsychological evaluation, so a denial letter should go to an attorney the day it arrives.
Workers’ compensation claims in Louisiana are heard by workers’ compensation judges, and the state has a district court in Houma among its ten. As the worker, you elect where the hearing is held under R.S. 23:1310.4: the parish where the injury occurred, the parish where you lived when injured, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business. A final judgment can be appealed to the Louisiana court of appeal; for Terrebonne Parish that is the First Circuit. An appeal that suspends the judgment must be filed within thirty days, and one that does not must be filed within sixty days, running from the day after the judgment was signed or the day after notice of judgment was mailed, whichever is later.
Avoid the common mistakes. Do not give a recorded statement to the adjuster without understanding what it will be used for. Do not return to work before your doctor clears you because a supervisor or adjuster suggests you are fine. Do not downplay symptoms to seem tough; “I’m okay” in a chart becomes the insurer’s exhibit. Keep a simple log of headaches, memory problems, missed tasks, and sleep, and ask family or coworkers who notice changes to describe them.
How Wage Benefits and Medical Care Work When the Injury Is Neurological
Louisiana workers’ compensation covers reasonable and necessary medical treatment, wage replacement while you cannot work, and supplemental earnings benefits if you return at reduced pay. Weekly compensation limits are set each year under R.S. 23:1202 and are fixed by the date of your accident, so the rate that applies to you does not change later. Supplemental earnings benefits are calculated at 66 2/3 percent of the difference between your pre-injury wages and what you earn or are able to earn, when you cannot earn 90 percent or more of your old wages. They can continue until you are released to full duty, earn your pre-injury wages, or reach the 520-week maximum, and weeks of temporary total disability count toward that 520.
That framework is where brain injuries get contested. A worker who can lift but cannot reliably concentrate, remember a safety sequence, or tolerate noise and heat may not be able to return to the same job, yet the insurer may point to a job on paper that someone with a cognitive injury cannot actually perform. Careful medical records, treating physician opinions on restrictions, and vocational evidence are what answer that argument.
Insurers also raise pre-existing conditions. A prior concussion, migraines, or a history of anxiety or depression does not automatically end a claim. If the work incident caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, benefits may still be owed. The firm builds these cases with the medical evidence, witness accounts, and work history needed to separate what existed before from what the job did.
When Someone Other Than Your Employer Is Responsible
Comp is a no-fault system, but it does not always tell the whole story. If a negligent driver struck your work truck, a contractor’s unsafe site caused your fall, or defective equipment failed, you may have a personal injury claim in addition to your comp benefits. Louisiana’s delictual actions generally carry a two-year prescriptive period running from the day the injury is sustained, for injuries on or after July 1, 2024; earlier injuries remain under the former 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, with lower fault percentages reducing the award proportionally. Coordinating the comp claim and the injury claim so that one does not undercut the other is part of how the firm handles cases that involve both. If a worker dies from a head injury, a wrongful death claim runs one year from the death or two years from the injury, whichever is longer.
Houma Brain Injury Claim Questions Answered
Do I need a lawyer for a head injury workers’ compensation claim?
Not every claim requires one, but a brain injury is a strong reason to get one. If benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or if your 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 neurological claims invite disputes about causation and restrictions.
How much does it cost to hire Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe?
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 workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report a head injury at work in Louisiana?
Report it to your employer as soon as possible and within 30 days at the latest. A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the date of injury, with a possible extension to three years from the last compensation payment if benefits have been paid.
My CT scan was normal. Can I still have a brain injury claim?
Yes. Concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries frequently do not show on standard imaging. What matters is the documented symptoms, the treating physicians’ opinions, and any neurological or neuropsychological testing. Consistent follow-up care builds the record.
What if the insurance company denies the specialist my doctor recommends?
That is a treatment dispute with short deadlines. Form 1009 must be filed within 15 calendar days of receiving written notice of the denial, and the OWC medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide. Do not wait to see whether the insurer reconsiders.
Can I be fired for filing a workers’ compensation claim?
Louisiana and Mississippi both protect workers from retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were let go or punished after reporting an injury, tell the firm during your consultation so your options can be reviewed.
Will my claim be hurt by a prior concussion or a history of migraines?
Not automatically. A pre-existing condition does not end a claim if your work caused, worsened, or sped up the problem. Insurers raise it often, and answering it with strong medical evidence is a core part of the work.
Can I get benefits if I go back to work but can’t do my old job well?
Possibly. Supplemental earnings benefits exist for workers who return at reduced pay because of the injury. They are calculated from the gap between your pre-injury wages and what you earn or are able to earn, and they are available when you cannot earn 90 percent or more of your pre-injury wages.
Can I sue someone besides my employer after a head injury on the job?
If a third party such as a negligent driver, a site contractor, or an equipment maker contributed to your injury, you may have a separate personal injury claim. Louisiana’s two-year period for most injuries on or after July 1, 2024 applies to those claims, and fault you share can reduce or, at 51 percent or more for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, bar recovery.
Will my health insurance cover brain injury treatment while my comp claim is pending?
That depends on your policy and on how the comp carrier responds. Comp is meant to pay reasonable and necessary treatment for a work injury, and a denial does not erase that obligation. Talk to an attorney before you route care through personal insurance, because billing decisions can affect the claim.
What if my workplace injury happened in Mississippi but I live in Louisiana?
Mississippi rules would generally govern an injury claim arising there. Mississippi requires you to report within 30 days and generally file with the Workers’ Compensation Commission within two years of the injury or last compensation payment. The firm represents injured workers in both states and can sort out which law applies.
Serving Houma Brain Injury Clients Across Terrebonne Parish and South Louisiana
The firm represents injured workers in Houma and throughout Terrebonne Parish, including the communities along Bayou Terrebonne and Bayou Little Caillou, and workers who commute in from neighboring Lafourche Parish and the Thibodaux area. Clients come from the offshore support yards, shipbuilders, fabrication shops, and marine contractors that anchor the local economy, as well as from hospitals, schools, retail, and delivery work. We also serve injured workers across South Louisiana, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles, and as far north as Shreveport and north Louisiana. The firm’s Mississippi practice reaches Jackson, Madison, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Gulf Coast, the Delta, and north Mississippi. Wherever the injury happened, the claim gets built the same way: medical evidence first, then the work history and witness accounts that explain how the injury happened and what it has cost.
Talk With a Houma Brain Injury Attorney Today
If a head injury at work has changed how you think, work, or get through the day, a Houma brain injury attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what has been paid, what has been denied, and what deadlines are running. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call to talk through your claim, or send your case details and let the team take on the insurance company while you focus on getting well.
