New Orleans Product Liability Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers and accident victims across Orleans Parish, the rest of South Louisiana, and the whole state of Mississippi, and a good share of the people we hear from were hurt by something they were handed rather than something they did. A nail gun that fires without warning, a forklift with a failed brake line, a ladder that buckles under normal weight, a respirator that was supposed to filter fumes and did not. If you need a New Orleans product liability lawyer, the first thing to understand is that a defective tool or machine usually creates two separate claims, and the way they are handled together decides how much you recover.
When the injury happened on the job, workers’ compensation pays your medical care and a portion of your lost wages regardless of who was at fault. It does not pay for pain, for the loss of the life you had, or for the full value of the earnings you will never make. A claim against the company that designed, built, or sold the defective product can. Louisiana’s product liability law is statutory and narrow, and the strategy for building that case differs sharply from an ordinary comp claim.
The port, the petrochemical corridor along the river, the shipyards, the hospital district, and the construction sites rebuilding the city all put workers next to heavy equipment every day. When that equipment fails because of how it was made, the manufacturer, not just your employer, may answer for it.
What a Louisiana Product Defect Claim Requires You to Prove
Louisiana does not treat product cases as general negligence claims. They are governed by the Louisiana Products Liability Act, which limits a manufacturer’s liability to specific, defined types of defect. A product can be unreasonably dangerous because of how it was constructed, because of how it was designed, because it carried inadequate warnings, or because it failed to conform to an express warranty the manufacturer made. Those categories are the framework, and a claim has to fit inside one of them. Saying a machine hurt you is not enough; the case must show which kind of defect existed and that it caused the injury while the product was being used in a way the manufacturer could reasonably anticipate.
That last point matters more than most people expect. Manufacturers defend these cases by arguing misuse, modification, or poor maintenance by the employer. A guard that was removed by a supervisor to speed up production, a part replaced with a cheaper substitute, or a safety interlock that was bypassed can all become the manufacturer’s defense. Preserving the actual product, in the condition it was in when it failed, is often the most important single step in the entire case.
Fault is also a live issue. Under the amendment to Louisiana’s comparative fault article, a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and a lower percentage reduces the award proportionally. That 51 percent bar applies to claims arising on or after the start of 2026; earlier claims remain under pure comparative fault. Because manufacturers routinely try to shift blame onto the injured worker, how the facts are developed early directly affects whether that threshold ever comes into play.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Defective Product Injury
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm first, and that background is exactly what a product case arising from a job injury needs. We serve injured people throughout Orleans Parish and the broader New Orleans area, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and the rest of South and north Louisiana, as well as Jackson, the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of your case, and we are paid only if we recover for you. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and Hablamos español.
Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe, partners at the firm, 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 manufacturer refuses a fair offer and the case has to be argued to a jury. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The results reflect the kinds of injuries that defective equipment causes. 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 injured when he was 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, communicates, and stays with them through the insurance fight. A lawyer who already knows how your employer’s insurer evaluates your wage and medical claim is in a far better position to coordinate it with a claim against the manufacturer.
Equipment and Product Failures That Hurt Workers in South Louisiana
- Industrial Machinery Without Adequate Guarding: Presses, conveyors, and rotating equipment in plants and warehouses can crush or amputate when a design leaves a hazard exposed, and a missing guard or defective interlock can point to a design defect.
- Defective Power Tools and Pneumatic Equipment: Nail guns, grinders, and saws used on construction and demolition sites can misfire, kick back, or fail mid-use, producing hand, eye, and spinal injuries.
- Vehicle and Heavy Equipment Failures: Brake, steering, or tire failures on work trucks, forklifts, cranes, and port equipment can cause wrecks and rollovers; this can overlap with a car and truck accident claim against the vehicle maker or a parts supplier.
- Falls From Failed Ladders, Scaffolds, and Lifts: Structural collapse or a faulty locking mechanism can cause falls that produce back, neck, and fracture injuries, especially on renovation and commercial projects.
- Burns From Heating, Welding, and Pressure Equipment: Valve failures, defective regulators, and faulty fittings on rigs, in plants, and on industrial sites can cause severe burns and explosions.
- Personal Protective Equipment That Fails: Harnesses, hard hats, respirators, and gloves that do not perform as advertised can turn a survivable incident into a catastrophic one.
- Chemical and Toxic Exposure From Mislabeled Products: Inadequate warnings on solvents, coatings, and industrial chemicals can support a failure-to-warn claim when a worker develops a lung or skin condition.
- Medical and Consumer Products: Defective implants, devices, and household goods injure people outside the workplace as well, and these claims proceed as standalone product liability cases.
Preserving Evidence and Meeting Deadlines After a Product-Related Injury
The first thing to do, after getting medical care, is to make sure the product is not thrown away, repaired, sent back to the vendor, or altered. Employers and their insurers sometimes remove a failed machine from service and quietly dispose of it, and once the part is gone the defect may be impossible to prove. Photograph the product, the label, the serial number, the surrounding area, and your injuries as soon as you can, and write down the names of coworkers who saw it happen. Do not allow anyone to test or disassemble the item until an engineer retained for your side can examine it. Keep the manuals, maintenance records, and purchase information if you can reach them.
Report the injury to your employer right away. In Louisiana, notice of a work injury must be given within 30 days, and a formal workers’ compensation claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, though payments already made can extend that period to three years from the last payment. Those comp deadlines run separately from your product claim. Delictual actions in Louisiana, which include product liability suits, carry a two-year prescriptive period running from the day the injury or damage is sustained for injuries on or after July 1, 2024; earlier injuries remain under the former one-year period. If a family member has died because of a defective product, a wrongful death claim runs one year from the death or two years from the day the injury was sustained, whichever is longer.
If you were hurt in Orleans Parish, your comp case can be heard by a workers’ compensation judge in the New Orleans district of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, and the worker chooses among the parish of injury, the parish of residence when injured, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business. A product liability suit is a different matter: it is filed as a civil case, either in a Louisiana state district court or, depending on the parties, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, which sits in New Orleans. Appeals from Orleans Parish state cases go to the Fourth Circuit, and federal appeals go to the Fifth Circuit.
Be careful about recorded statements and broad medical releases. The comp adjuster and the manufacturer’s insurer are not working toward the same result you are, and a casual comment about how the accident happened can be used to argue misuse or shared fault. Be equally careful about settling your comp claim before your product claim is understood; some settlement terms can affect the employer’s right to recover from a third party, so the two should be planned together.
How a Comp Claim and a Product Claim Work Together
When a defective product injures a covered employee, the comp insurer typically has a reimbursement interest in whatever you recover from the manufacturer for the benefits it already paid. That does not mean you receive nothing; it means the net outcome has to be calculated carefully so that the settlement accounts for the lien. A lawyer who handles both sides can time the settlements, negotiate the reimbursement, and avoid agreements that quietly cost you money.
The two claims also compensate different losses. Comp covers medical treatment and wage benefits under fixed formulas, including temporary total disability, permanent partial disability, and supplemental earnings benefits for those who return to work at reduced pay. A product claim against a third party can seek damages that comp never touches, including pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and the full measure of lost earning capacity. For someone with a permanent back, shoulder, or burn injury, the gap between the two can be the difference between getting by and being secure.
Questions About Product Liability Claims in New Orleans
Can I sue the manufacturer if I’m already receiving workers’ compensation?
Yes. Workers’ compensation generally limits claims against your own employer, but it does not prevent a separate suit against a third party such as the company that made or sold the defective product. The comp insurer may have a right to be reimbursed from a recovery, which is why both claims should be handled together.
What types of defects can support a claim in Louisiana?
Louisiana recognizes four theories: a construction or composition defect, a design defect, an inadequate warning, and failure to conform to an express warranty. The product must have been unreasonably dangerous in one of those ways and must have caused your injury during a reasonably anticipated use.
How long do I have to file a product liability lawsuit?
For injuries on or after July 1, 2024, Louisiana’s general delictual prescriptive period is two years from the day the injury or damage is sustained. Earlier injuries stay under the former one-year period. Because that deadline is separate from the comp filing deadlines, speak with a lawyer quickly.
What if my employer removed a safety guard or modified the machine?
The manufacturer will almost certainly raise it as a defense. It does not automatically end the case, because the question is whether the product was defective when it left the manufacturer’s control and whether the modification was foreseeable. Evidence about the original design is critical.
What if I was partly at fault for the accident?
Under Louisiana’s amended rule, a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing for claims arising on or after the start of 2026, and a smaller share reduces the award proportionally. Earlier claims remain under pure comparative fault. How fault is argued makes a real difference to the result.
Do I need an expert to prove a defect?
Almost always. Engineers, materials specialists, and safety experts examine the product, the design, and the warnings to show that a defect existed. Securing those experts early, before evidence is lost, is part of building a credible case.
Can I bring a claim if a family member died because of a defective product?
Yes. A wrongful death action in Louisiana prescribes one year from the date of death or two years from the day the injury was sustained, whichever is longer. If the death also occurred on the job, comp death benefits may be available alongside it.
Will the manufacturer’s insurer contact me directly?
Often, yes, and early. You are not required to give a recorded statement, and statements made before you understand the full picture can be used against you. It is better to have a lawyer handle those communications.
Can a product claim reach a defective part supplier rather than the brand-name maker?
It can. Component makers, distributors, and sellers may share responsibility depending on the defect and their role in placing the product on the market. Identifying every potentially liable party is part of the early investigation.
Does a product injury claim affect my workers’ compensation benefits?
Filing a product claim does not end your comp benefits, but the comp insurer’s reimbursement interest and settlement terms have to be managed carefully. Coordinating the two prevents a settlement in one case from undermining the other.
What does it cost to hire your firm for a product liability case?
Consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and we are paid only if we recover for you. There is nothing owed up front.
Serving Product Liability Clients From New Orleans Across South Louisiana and Mississippi
We represent clients throughout Orleans Parish, from the French Quarter, the Central Business District, and the Warehouse District through Uptown, the Garden District, Mid-City, Gentilly, and New Orleans East. Our work reaches Algiers and the West Bank communities of Gretna, Harvey, Marrero, and Westwego, and across the river into Metairie, Kenner, Harahan, and River Ridge. We also serve people in Chalmette and Arabi in St. Bernard Parish, Belle Chasse in Plaquemines Parish, and the river parishes of St. Charles, St. James, and St. John the Baptist, where much of the region’s industrial work takes place.
Beyond the metro area, we represent injured people in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and communities throughout South Louisiana and north Louisiana. In Mississippi, our reach includes Jackson, Madison, the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi. Whether the failed product injured a dockworker, a refinery hand, a delivery driver, or a nurse, we handle the comp claim and the third-party case as one coordinated effort.
Speak With a New Orleans Product Liability Attorney Today
If a defective tool, machine, vehicle, or chemical product injured you or killed someone in your family, a New Orleans product liability attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can look at the facts, identify who may be responsible, and explain how your comp benefits and a claim against the manufacturer fit together. Evidence disappears and deadlines run quickly, so the sooner we talk the better your options.
Call us any hour of the day; our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover for you. Hablamos español.
