New Orleans Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer
Anyone in New Orleans who has suffered a spinal cord injury at work, or in a crash while working, is quickly asked to make decisions about surgery, rehabilitation, income, and who will speak for them. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC handles workers’ compensation and serious injury claims for people hurt on the job across Louisiana and Mississippi, and a New Orleans spinal cord injury lawyer from our firm can take the insurance company’s calls so you can focus on recovery.
A spinal cord injury is different from a pulled back or a herniated disc. Damage to the cord itself can mean partial or complete loss of movement or sensation below the injury, and it often changes what work, if any, a person can do again. That reality drives everything about the claim: the medical care you will need for years, the wage benefits that replace a paycheck that may be gone for good, and the insurer’s incentive to dispute how bad the injury really is.
Workers in this city are hurt in ways that put the spine at risk: falls from scaffolding and ladders at construction sites, crush injuries on the docks and industrial sites along the river, wrecks in work trucks on I-10 and the Crescent City Connection approaches, and equipment accidents at plants and yards in the surrounding parishes. Whatever the cause, the compensation system and any outside injury claim have to be handled together from the start.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Spinal Cord Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm serving injured workers in New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Jefferson Parish, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and communities across South and north Louisiana, as well as Jackson, the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and the rest of Mississippi. Our attorneys bring more than 75 years of combined experience to claims that have been denied, delayed, or cut off, and the firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and you owe no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Phones are answered around the clock, and we speak Spanish (hablamos español).
Rob Lunsford, our founding partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe, 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 and has argued before state appellate courts. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
Severe back and spine injuries are the heart of our results. We secured $685,000 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 with back injuries after he was struck in his work vehicle. A $221,000 settlement for an oil rig worker with severe burns shows the same approach to catastrophic injuries generally. Clients tell us what mattered most: that we listened, that we fought the insurance company at every step, and that they never felt left alone with the process. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome, since every case turns on its own medical and legal facts.
Situations That Lead to Spinal Cord Injury Claims
- Falls From Height: Roofers, ironworkers, and construction crews can suffer cord damage in a single fall from scaffolding, a ladder, or a structure. Insurers sometimes argue the worker ignored safety rules, which is a defense to be answered with the facts of the job site.
- Work Vehicle Collisions: Truck drivers, delivery drivers, and anyone driving for an employer can be injured in a wreck caused by someone else. This often creates both a comp claim and a separate personal injury claim against the at-fault driver.
- Crush and Struck-By Injuries: Dock work, warehouses, and industrial plants expose workers to falling loads, moving equipment, and collapsing materials that can fracture vertebrae and injure the cord.
- Oil Field and Offshore-Adjacent Work: Rig work involves heavy pipe, elevated platforms, and powerful machinery. Our firm has handled severe injuries from rig work, including a derrickhand’s shoulder injury from pulling large pipe and a rig worker’s burns.
- Cervical and Lumbar Injuries Worsened by Work: Not every spinal cord injury comes from one dramatic event. A herniated disc that compresses the cord can develop or worsen from repetitive heavy labor, and insurers frequently blame degenerative disc disease or an old injury.
- Incomplete and Complete Cord Injuries: The medical classification affects how long benefits last, what equipment and home modifications are needed, and whether a return to any work is realistic.
- Injuries Involving a Third Party: A negligent contractor, equipment manufacturer, property owner, or driver may be responsible in addition to your employer’s comp coverage, opening the door to damages that comp does not provide.
What to Do After a Spinal Cord Injury at Work in Louisiana
Get emergency medical care first, and tell every provider that the injury happened at work. Spinal injuries are sometimes underestimated at first, so follow-up imaging and specialist referrals matter, and gaps in treatment get used against you later. Keep every record, discharge paper, and bill.
Report the injury to your employer right away. Louisiana requires notice to the employer within 30 days of the injury, and 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 were being paid. Missing these windows can end a claim that would otherwise be strong, so if you are hospitalized, have a family member or an attorney give notice for you and confirm it in writing.
If the insurer or its utilization review process denies a treatment your surgeon recommends, a short clock starts. A dispute over denied treatment must be filed on Form 1009 with the Office of Workers’ Compensation within 15 calendar days of receiving written notice of the denial, and the OWC medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide. If you disagree with that decision, you have 45 days from the date it was issued to file Form 1008. These deadlines run from issuance and receipt, not from when you get around to reading the letter.
Workers’ compensation cases in this state are heard by workers’ compensation judges in the district offices of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, and the worker chooses among the parish where the injury happened, the parish where you lived when hurt, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business. A final judgment can be appealed to the Louisiana court of appeal; for cases arising in Orleans Parish that is the Fourth Circuit. The deadline is 30 days for an appeal that suspends the judgment and 60 days for one that does not, counted from the day after the judgment was signed or the day after notice of judgment was mailed, whichever is later.
Do not give a recorded statement to the insurance adjuster without talking to a lawyer, do not sign medical releases that sweep in your whole history, and do not return to work before your treating physician clears you. If another party may be at fault, preserve photos, witness names, vehicle information, and anything about the equipment or site conditions. Because a third-party claim is a separate lawsuit with its own deadline, it should be evaluated at the same time as the comp claim. For injuries on or after July 1, 2024, the general deadline for a tort claim in Louisiana is two years, and wrongful death claims follow their own rule.
Wage Benefits, Medical Care, and Long-Term Disability for Spinal Injuries
Louisiana workers’ compensation covers all reasonable and necessary medical treatment, which for a spinal cord injury can include surgery, hospitalization, rehabilitation, medication, equipment, and ongoing specialist care. Wage replacement runs alongside it. While you cannot work at all, you receive temporary total disability benefits. If you can return to work but earn less, supplemental earnings benefits pay 66 2/3 percent of the difference between your pre-injury wages and what you earn or are able to earn, so long as you cannot earn 90 percent or more of your old wages. Those benefits can continue until you are released to full duty, return to your pre-injury earnings, or reach the 520-week maximum, and weeks of total disability count toward that 520. Permanent disability benefits and catastrophic injury benefits exist for the most serious outcomes. Weekly rates are capped by a maximum that is set each year and fixed by the date of your accident.
The hardest fights in these cases are usually about proof and permanence. Insurers hire doctors to say the cord injury is less severe, that recovery is further along than your own physician reports, or that vocational work is available. We build the medical evidence, treating-physician testimony, and work history to answer those positions, and we handle settlement only when the number reflects the lifetime cost of the injury.
If your job required you to be in Mississippi when you were hurt, different rules apply. Mississippi requires notice within 30 days and generally gives two years to file with the Workers’ Compensation Commission, and coverage begins on the first day of employment. We represent injured workers in both states, so a case that crosses the state line does not require finding a second firm.
Questions About Spinal Cord Injury Claims in New Orleans
Do I need a lawyer for a spinal cord injury workers’ compensation claim?
Given the medical costs and the length of disability involved, yes, you should have one. The insurer has adjusters and lawyers working for it from day one. Spinal cord claims involve major surgery decisions, disputes about permanence, and often a second claim against a third party, and mistakes made early are hard to fix later.
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. Attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report a spinal cord injury to my employer?
Give notice to your employer within 30 days of the injury in Louisiana. Do it in writing if you can, and do it as soon as you are physically able or have someone do it for you.
What is the deadline to file a Louisiana workers’ compensation claim?
A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident. If the insurer has paid compensation, the deadline may extend to three years from the last payment. Because exceptions are narrow, speak with a lawyer early rather than relying on the longer period.
What if the insurance company says my spinal injury is from a pre-existing condition?
That argument does not automatically end your claim. If your work caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Insurers raise it constantly in back and neck cases, and answering it with strong imaging and physician testimony is a core part of our work.
Can I also sue someone besides my employer?
Often yes. If a negligent driver, contractor, property owner, or equipment maker contributed to your injury, you may have a personal injury claim in addition to comp. Those claims can recover damages comp does not cover, and the two need to be coordinated so one does not undermine the other.
What happens if I was partly at fault for the accident?
Workers’ compensation does not turn on fault, so your own mistake generally does not bar comp benefits. In a third-party injury claim, Louisiana’s fault rules do matter: for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a plaintiff found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and lesser fault reduces the award proportionally.
What if the insurer denies the surgery my doctor recommends?
You can dispute the denial, but the clock is short. A Form 1009 must be filed within 15 calendar days of receiving written notice, and a medical director decision follows within 30 calendar days. Contact us immediately when a denial letter arrives.
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 terminated or punished after reporting your injury, tell us during your consultation so we can review your options.
Will my claim be heard in a regular court?
Not at first. Louisiana comp disputes go to a workers’ compensation judge at the district office of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. Only after a final judgment can the case move up to the court of appeal, and the judge’s findings on medical evidence carry real weight there.
How long does a spinal cord injury case take?
It depends on how stable your medical condition is. Settlement discussions rarely make sense until your doctors can describe your long-term limitations and care needs, which can take considerable time with a spinal cord injury. Rushing to settle before that point risks leaving future care unpaid.
What if my family member died from a work-related spinal injury?
Death benefits are available under workers’ compensation, and a wrongful death claim may exist against a third party. For wrongful death in Louisiana, the claim must be brought within one year of death or two years from the injury, whichever is longer. Talk to us promptly so these deadlines are tracked.
Serving Spinal Cord Injury Clients Across New Orleans and Louisiana
Our New Orleans spinal cord injury work starts in Orleans Parish, from the French Quarter, the Central Business District, and the Warehouse District through Mid-City, Gentilly, the Bywater, Uptown, the Garden District, Algiers, and New Orleans East. We represent injured workers across the river in Jefferson Parish, including Metairie, Kenner, Harahan, Gretna, and Marrero, and in neighboring Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, and St. Tammany parishes, including Chalmette, Slidell, and Covington.
The firm also serves workers throughout South Louisiana, in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Houma, and north to Shreveport and Monroe. In Mississippi, we represent clients in Jackson, Madison, the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and communities across north Mississippi. Whether the injury happened on a job site in the city, on a plant floor in the river parishes, or on the highway between jobs, we can take the case from the first call.
Talk to a New Orleans Spinal Cord Injury Attorney Today
A spinal cord injury changes what your family will need for years, and the decisions you make in the first weeks can shape the outcome. A New Orleans spinal cord injury attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review your medical situation, explain your deadlines, and deal with the insurance company so you do not have to. 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.
