Louisiana Catastrophic Injury Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents workers across Louisiana and Mississippi whose lives were changed in a moment on a job site, a rig, a plant floor, or a highway while on the clock. When a worker comes out of an accident with a spinal cord injury, severe burns, an amputation, a traumatic brain injury, or crush injuries that will never fully heal, the claim that follows looks nothing like an ordinary comp file. A Louisiana catastrophic injury lawyer has to think years ahead: surgeries that have not happened yet, home modifications, attendant care, and a paycheck that may never return.
Catastrophic claims in Louisiana usually run on two tracks at once. The first is workers’ compensation, which pays medical care and wage benefits regardless of who caused the accident. The second, when someone other than the employer contributed to the harm, is a separate injury claim that can reach damages comp never will. Those two tracks are linked, and decisions made on one can quietly shrink the other. The way these cases tend to unfold is that the early weeks decide a great deal, because that is when the medical record gets written, the accident gets described, and the insurer settles on its position.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Catastrophic Work Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm that serves injured workers throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, from New Orleans and Baton Rouge to Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport, and across the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the Delta, and the Jackson area. The firm’s attorneys bring more than 75 years of combined experience, and the firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients. Consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of the case, no fee is owed unless benefits or a settlement are recovered, and the phones are answered around the clock. Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language.
The people handling these claims matter. Rob Lunsford, Founding Partner, 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. Andrew Rueff has tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, which matters when a catastrophic claim needs a trial lawyer on the injury side. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The firm obtained $685,000 for a surgical tech with a lower back injury and $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury. It recovered $385,000 for a project manager with back injuries after he was struck in his work vehicle, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Clients describe a team that listens, stays responsive, and goes up against the insurance company on their behalf.
Injuries That Qualify as Catastrophic in Louisiana Work Claims
Louisiana’s comp system pays additional benefits for catastrophic injury, and the injuries below are the ones that most often reshape a worker’s future earning capacity and care needs.
- Spinal Cord and Severe Back Injuries: Disc injuries that require fusion, nerve damage, and paralysis arise from falls from scaffolding, heavy lifting over years, and vehicle collisions on work routes. Insurers often point to degenerative disc disease, so the medical evidence has to show how the job caused or worsened the condition.
- Burns: Refineries, chemical plants, and oil rigs across south Louisiana produce thermal, chemical, and electrical burns that need skin grafts, repeated surgeries, and long-term pain and scar management.
- Traumatic Brain Injuries: Falling objects, falls from height, and crashes can cause brain injuries whose cognitive and behavioral effects do not always show on early imaging, which makes thorough neurological documentation essential.
- Amputations and Crush Injuries: Machinery, pipe handling on drilling sites, and heavy equipment can cost a worker a limb or leave one functionally useless, which can end a career built on physical work.
- Complex Fractures: Hip, ankle, foot, and pelvis fractures may need specialists and multiple surgical repairs, with arthritis and permanent restrictions following even after healing.
- Severe Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Massive rotator cuff tears, SLAP tears, and ACL and meniscus injuries that do not respond to surgery can permanently end overhead or load-bearing work.
- Fatal Workplace Injuries: When a worker dies, dependents may claim death benefits through comp and, where a third party was at fault, a wrongful death action as well.
- Occupational Disease for First Responders: Firefighters and other first responders may develop cancer, heart and lung disease, or other serious conditions tied to the job that carry catastrophic consequences.
How a Catastrophic Louisiana Claim Typically Moves
Louisiana workers’ compensation covers all reasonable and necessary medical treatment, wage replacement while the worker is temporarily unable to work, supplemental earnings benefits when the worker returns at reduced pay, and additional benefits for permanent disability, catastrophic injury, or death. Supplemental earnings benefits become relevant when a worker cannot earn at least 90 percent of the pre-injury wage; they pay two-thirds of the difference between what the worker earned before and what the worker earns or is able to earn. Those benefits can continue until the worker is released to full duty, is earning pre-injury wages, or reaches the 520-week maximum, and weeks of temporary total disability count toward that 520. Weekly benefit limits are set by the date of the accident and are not adjusted afterward, so the accident date locks in the ceiling.
Disputes in these cases are rarely about whether the worker was hurt. They tend to be about what care the worker needs and who decides. When an insurer denies a recommended surgery or treatment, Louisiana uses a utilization review process. The worker has 15 calendar days from receiving written notice of the denial to file the dispute form with the Office of Workers’ Compensation, and the medical director then has 30 calendar days to issue a decision. If the worker disagrees with that decision, the next filing is due within 45 days from the date the decision was issued, and the clock runs from issuance rather than from when the decision arrives in the mail. Missing either window can cost a worker a surgery that the treating surgeon says is necessary.
Hearings take place before a workers’ compensation judge in one of the state’s ten district offices, and the worker generally chooses among the parish where the injury happened, the parish where the worker lived at the time, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business. A judgment can be appealed to the appropriate Louisiana circuit court of appeal. An appeal that suspends the judgment must be filed within 30 days, and one that does not suspend it within 60 days, counting from the day after the judgment was signed or the day after notice of judgment was mailed, whichever is later. Orleans, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard parishes sit in the Fourth Circuit, Jefferson in the Fifth, East Baton Rouge in the First, Lafayette and Calcasieu in the Third, and Caddo in the Second. A party can then ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to review by applying for a writ within 30 days of notice of the judgment.
When Someone Other Than the Employer Caused the Catastrophe
Comp is designed to be no-fault, which is both its strength and its limit. It pays quickly and without proof of negligence, but it does not compensate for pain, suffering, or loss of enjoyment of life. When a negligent driver strikes a work vehicle, a contractor leaves an unsafe site, or a defective product or piece of equipment fails, the injured worker may bring a separate claim against that third party. Those claims can recover damages beyond what comp provides.
Three Louisiana rules deserve attention. First, for injuries on or after July 1, 2024, the deadline to sue in tort is two years from the day the injury or damage was sustained; earlier injuries remain under the former one-year period. Second, for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and lesser fault reduces the award proportionally, so how fault gets assigned in the first weeks can decide the case. Third, a wrongful death or survival claim is generally timely if filed within the longer of one year from the death or two years from the day the injury was sustained, with a shorter limit still applying to death claims based on medical malpractice. Because the comp insurer often has a reimbursement interest in a third-party recovery, the two claims must be coordinated so that one does not undercut the other.
What to Do in the Days and Weeks After a Catastrophic Workplace Injury
Report the injury to your employer right away. Louisiana requires notice within 30 days of the accident, and a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the date of injury, with the period potentially extending to three years from the last payment if benefits were paid. In a catastrophic case the worker is often hospitalized or sedated, so a family member should make sure the employer has been told in writing and that the date and circumstances are documented. Mississippi workers follow a parallel structure: notice within 30 days and a claim with the Workers’ Compensation Commission within two years of the injury.
Get and keep every medical record, imaging study, and work restriction. Follow your treating physicians’ instructions, and be careful with recorded statements to the insurer; adjusters are trained to find language they can later use to argue the accident did not happen at work, that a prior condition is to blame, or that you can return to work sooner than your doctor says. Do not sign releases or settlement paperwork before the full extent of your injury is understood, because a catastrophic injury can require care for decades and a settlement closes the door on future needs. Preserve evidence from the scene where you can: photos, equipment identification, names of coworkers who saw what happened, and any incident report. If a vehicle, tool, or machine may have been defective, it should not be repaired, returned, or discarded until it can be inspected.
Disputes over medical care are handled through the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, and a lawyer can file the right forms in the right window. A common mistake is waiting to see whether the insurer will come around; by the time a denial is clearly final, a 15-day or 45-day deadline may already have passed. Another is assuming that because comp is being paid, there is nothing more to pursue. Calling a lawyer early, before a recorded statement or a settlement offer, keeps every option open.
Frequently Asked Questions About Catastrophic Injury Claims in Louisiana
What makes a work injury “catastrophic” rather than serious?
There is no single bright line in everyday use. In practice, an injury is catastrophic when it causes permanent loss of function, lifelong care needs, or an inability to return to any comparable work. Louisiana’s comp law provides additional benefits for permanent disability, catastrophic injury, and death.
Will workers’ compensation pay all of my medical bills?
Louisiana comp covers all reasonable and necessary medical treatment related to the work injury, including surgery, therapy, and prescriptions. Disputes arise over whether a particular treatment is necessary, and those are resolved through utilization review and, if needed, a hearing.
How long do I have to report the injury and file a claim?
Report within 30 days of the accident. A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the injury, though the period may extend to three years from the last payment if benefits have been paid. Because exceptions are narrow, do not rely on them.
How long can supplemental earnings benefits last?
They can continue until you are released to full duty, you are earning your pre-injury wages, or you reach the 520-week maximum. Weeks of temporary total disability benefits count toward that 520.
Can I sue someone besides my employer?
Often, yes. If a negligent driver, an outside contractor, or a manufacturer of defective equipment contributed to the accident, you may have a separate injury claim in addition to comp. Your own employer is generally protected from a tort suit by the comp system.
What if I was partly at fault for the accident?
Comp does not turn on fault. In a third-party injury claim for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a person found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and lesser fault reduces the award in proportion. Earlier claims remain under pure comparative fault.
The insurer says my condition was already there before the accident. Is my claim over?
No. If the job caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, benefits may still be owed. This argument is especially common with spine and joint injuries, and answering it takes strong medical evidence tying the work to the change in your condition.
Will I have to go to court for a comp claim?
Comp disputes are heard by a workers’ compensation judge in the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration rather than in a regular civil courtroom. Many cases resolve by agreement, but a hearing is available when the insurer refuses to pay or authorize care.
What happens to my family if the injury is fatal?
Dependents may be entitled to death benefits under comp, and if a third party was at fault, a wrongful death claim may also be available. The deadline is generally the longer of one year from the death or two years from the day the injury was sustained.
Can my employer fire me for filing a claim?
Louisiana and Mississippi both prohibit retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were terminated or punished after reporting your injury, tell your lawyer during the consultation so the circumstances can be reviewed.
Do I pay anything to get started?
No. Consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of the case, and fees are collected only if benefits or a settlement are recovered. Attorney fees in comp cases are limited and approved under state law.
Serving Catastrophic Injury Clients From New Orleans to Shreveport and Across Mississippi
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe represents injured workers throughout South Louisiana, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles, and in north Louisiana communities such as Shreveport.
The firm also serves workers across Mississippi, from the Jackson metro area and Madison to Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Gulf Coast, the Delta, and north Mississippi. Workers who live on one side of the state line and are hurt on the other, or whose employer operates in both states, can get one team that understands both systems. Whether the claim belongs before a Louisiana workers’ compensation judge or the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, the work is the same: build the medical record, answer the insurer’s defenses, and pursue every source of recovery.
Talk With a Louisiana Catastrophic Injury Attorney Today
If you or someone in your family has suffered a life-altering injury at work, a Louisiana catastrophic injury attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened, explain which deadlines apply, and tell you whether a comp claim, a third-party claim, or both are available. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, the consultation is free, and you owe no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call the firm today and let our team start handling the insurance company while you focus on getting well.
