Baton Rouge Amputation Lawyer
Losing a hand, a foot, a finger, or a limb at work changes how you earn a living, how you care for your family, and what your body can do for the rest of your life. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that represents injured workers across Mississippi and Louisiana, and a Baton Rouge amputation lawyer from our team will take on the insurer while you focus on surgery, recovery, and what comes next.
Amputation claims are different from most work injury claims because the loss is permanent from day one. The insurer is not arguing about whether you were hurt. It is arguing about how much that loss is worth, how long you will be off work, whether you can do any other job, and how much of your future care it must pay for. The answers to those questions are worth far more than the first check an adjuster offers.
Baton Rouge produces these injuries in places that are easy to name: petrochemical plants and refineries along the river corridor, construction sites, sawmills and timber operations to the north and east, warehouses, and trucking yards. Presses, conveyors, saws, pipe-handling equipment, and heavy vehicles all carry the risk of a crush or a traumatic loss.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for an Amputation Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC handles workers’ compensation as the center of its practice, not as a side matter. Our attorneys bring over 75 years of combined experience to claims that have been denied, delayed, or cut off, and we have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for injured clients across Mississippi and Louisiana. The firm was ranked by Best Law Firms in 2026 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. We take cases on a no recovery, no fee basis, consultations are free, and we advance the costs of the case. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and Hablamos español.
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. Andrew Rueff has successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, and Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out a team that handles claims before workers’ compensation judges and on appeal.
Our results show what serious injuries can be worth when the evidence is built properly. We recovered $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 struck in his work vehicle, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Clients regularly tell us the same things in their reviews: we listened, we stayed professional, and we fought the insurance company at every step.
How Amputation Injuries Happen on Baton Rouge Job Sites
- Crush and Caught-In Injuries: Conveyors, rollers, presses, and rotating machinery can pull in a hand or arm in an instant. Missing guards, disabled safety interlocks, and skipped lockout procedures are frequent factors in industrial and manufacturing settings.
- Industrial and Plant Accidents: Refinery and chemical plant work involves heavy equipment, high-pressure systems, and pipe handling. Contractors and turnaround crews working in the Baton Rouge industrial corridor face these hazards, and the injury can combine amputation with burns.
- Construction Site Injuries: Saws, nail guns, excavators, falling materials, and scaffolding failures cause traumatic limb loss. Construction workers often work for subcontractors, which raises questions about who the employer and the insurer actually are.
- Vehicle and Trucking Accidents: Delivery drivers, truckers, and field workers can lose a limb in a crash or while loading and securing freight. These cases often involve both a comp claim and a claim against a negligent outside driver.
- Surgical Amputation After a Failed Repair: Some workers do not lose a limb at the scene. A severe crush, infection, or vascular injury leads to amputation weeks later, and the insurer may argue the later loss is unrelated to the original accident.
- Finger and Partial Hand Loss: Even a lost fingertip or thumb can end a skilled trade, a machinist’s career, or a mechanic’s livelihood. These claims are routinely undervalued because the insurer treats them as minor.
- Timber, Agricultural, and Warehouse Work: Saws, forklifts, balers, and moving loads around the Baton Rouge region produce serious hand, arm, and leg injuries outside the large plants.
What to Do in the Days After a Work Amputation
Get emergency care first, and make sure the treating team knows the injury happened at work. If a body part was recovered, the medical team will handle it; your job is to get to the hospital. Tell your employer about the injury as soon as you can. Louisiana requires notice to the employer within 30 days of the injury, and a claim that skips that notice can be challenged. Do it in writing if possible and keep a copy.
Louisiana generally requires a formal claim to be filed within one year of the accident. If compensation payments have been made, that deadline can extend to three years from the last payment, but do not count on an extension. Claims are heard by workers’ compensation judges at the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. Baton Rouge has its own district office, and the worker chooses among the parish where the injury happened, the parish where the worker lived when hurt, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business.
Document everything you can. Photograph the machine or site if you are able, or ask someone to. Write down the names of coworkers who saw it happen. Keep every medical record, prescription, and bill. Be careful with recorded statements to the insurer; adjusters ask questions designed to find fault, and answers given while you are on pain medication can be used against you later.
If the insurer denies a treatment request, such as a prosthetic, a revision surgery, or a pain management plan, the clock is short. A utilization review dispute must be filed within 15 calendar days of receiving written notice of the denial, and the 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 take the next step. Missing these windows can cost you care you are entitled to.
Benefits in an Amputation Case
Louisiana workers’ compensation pays all reasonable and necessary medical treatment, which for an amputee includes surgery, hospital care, physical and occupational therapy, pain management, mental health care when it is related to the injury, and prosthetics. A prosthetic is not a one-time purchase. Devices wear out and need to be replaced and adjusted, and the claim should account for that.
While you cannot work, wage replacement is paid at two-thirds of your average wage, subject to a weekly maximum set by the state under La. R.S. 23:1202. The maximum is fixed by the date of your accident and is not adjusted later. If you return to work but earn less, supplemental earnings benefits can pay two-thirds 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 pay. Those benefits can run until you return to full duty, you earn your pre-injury wages, or you reach the 520-week maximum, and weeks of total disability count toward that 520.
Permanent impairment, catastrophic injury, and vocational rehabilitation can add to the picture. A worker who lost a dominant hand and cannot return to a trade has a very different future earning capacity than the insurer’s first offer assumes. That gap is where a case is won or lost.
When Someone Other Than Your Employer Is at Fault
Workers’ compensation is generally your remedy against your own employer, but an amputation often involves a third party: a defective machine’s manufacturer, a contractor who controlled the site, an equipment owner, or a driver who caused a crash. A claim against that party can recover damages that comp does not pay, including pain and suffering. Our personal injury lawyers make sure the comp claim and the injury claim work together, because a careless settlement of one can hurt the other.
Louisiana now has a two-year prescriptive period for most injury claims arising on or after July 1, 2024. 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. Those rules make early investigation of a third-party claim important.
Frequently Asked Questions About Amputation Claims
Do I need a lawyer after losing a limb at work?
The value of an amputation claim is high and the insurer knows it. Adjusters and defense counsel work for the carrier. You should have someone working for you, especially if benefits are denied, delayed, or reduced, or if you will be out of work for a long time.
How much does it cost to hire your firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, we advance case costs, and we are paid only if we recover benefits or a settlement. Attorney fees in workers’ compensation are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report the injury?
Report it to your employer right away and no later than 30 days after the accident. That applies in both Louisiana and Mississippi.
How long do I have to file a claim in Louisiana?
A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident. If compensation payments have been made, the period may run up to three years from the last payment. Because exceptions are narrow, speak with an attorney as soon as you can.
Will workers’ comp pay for a prosthetic?
Reasonable and necessary medical care includes prosthetics and the fittings, repairs, and replacements that go with them. Insurers sometimes push back on advanced devices or on replacement cycles, which is a common reason for a treatment dispute.
What if the insurer denies my prosthetic or surgery?
You must file a dispute within 15 calendar days of receiving written notice of the denial, and the medical director has 30 calendar days to rule. After that decision, you have 45 days from its issue date to continue the dispute. Missing a deadline can be costly.
Can I get workers’ comp and also sue someone?
Yes, when a third party such as an equipment maker, a contractor, or a negligent driver contributed to the injury. The comp claim goes against your employer’s insurer, and the injury claim goes against the outside party.
What if I was partly at fault for the accident?
Workers’ compensation is generally a no-fault system, so your own mistake usually does not bar comp benefits. Fault matters in a separate claim against a third party, where Louisiana’s 51 percent bar applies to causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026.
Can my employer fire me for filing a claim?
Both Mississippi and Louisiana protect workers from retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were let go or punished after reporting, tell us so we can review your options.
What if the insurer says my condition was already there?
A pre-existing condition does not automatically end a claim. If the job caused, worsened, or accelerated the problem, benefits may still be owed. This comes up in amputations tied to infection, diabetes, or vascular disease that followed a work injury, and strong medical evidence answers it.
Can I appeal if the judge rules against me?
Yes. A decision of the workers’ compensation judge can be appealed to the court of appeal, and cases from the Baton Rouge district go to the Louisiana First 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, running from the later of the signing of the judgment or the mailing of notice. A party may then ask the Louisiana Supreme Court for review by applying for a writ within 30 days of notice.
Do I have a claim if a coworker or family member died in an amputation-related accident?
Death benefits are available under workers’ compensation, and a wrongful death claim may exist against a third party. Louisiana allows one year from death or two years from the injury, whichever is longer, for wrongful death actions.
Serving Amputation Injury Clients Across Baton Rouge and South Louisiana
We represent injured workers throughout East Baton Rouge Parish, including downtown Baton Rouge, the Mid City and Garden District areas, Southdowns, Shenandoah, and the neighborhoods north toward Scotlandville and Baker. The same applies in Zachary, Central, Denham Springs, Port Allen, Plaquemine, Gonzales, Prairieville, and Walker, along with communities across the surrounding parishes where the industrial corridor and river traffic generate serious injuries.
Our team also serves clients in New Orleans, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport, and across South Louisiana and north Louisiana. In Mississippi, we represent injured workers in Jackson, Madison, the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi. Wherever the injury happened, we take the claim to the proper forum.
Talk to a Baton Rouge Amputation Attorney Today
If you or a family member lost a limb or part of one on the job, speak with a Baton Rouge amputation attorney from Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC before you accept any offer or sign anything from the insurer. Call us, and we will review your situation, explain your benefits and deadlines, and tell you plainly what we can do. Consultations are free, our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you.
