Bollinger Shipyards Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
A welder who gets hurt in a hull section, or a crane rigger caught under a load, usually discovers the insurance side of the shipyard faster than the medical side. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm representing injured workers across South Louisiana and Mississippi, and a Bollinger Shipyards workers’ compensation lawyer from our team can step in between you and the adjuster from the first week.
Shipyard injuries rarely look like office injuries. The work involves heavy steel, confined compartments, overhead lifts, grinding, cutting, coatings, and long shifts on staging and decks. The result is torn shoulders, herniated discs, crushed hands and feet, burns, hearing loss, and breathing problems that surface months later. Whether your claim is handled under the state comp system or a federal one is also not always obvious in maritime work, and getting that wrong early can cost you time you cannot get back.
We work in Lafourche, Terrebonne, Jefferson, and the other South Louisiana parishes where yard and vessel work is concentrated, and we handle claims for injured workers throughout both states.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Shipyard Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers in Louisiana and Mississippi, and workers’ compensation is the center of the practice, not a side matter taken when it walks through the door. Our attorneys bring over 75 years of combined experience, and the firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients. We serve injured workers statewide in Louisiana, including Houma, Thibodaux, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and New Orleans, as well as across Mississippi. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with our team in their own language, which matters in a yard workforce that includes many Spanish speakers.
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, 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 Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The results that matter most to a shipyard worker are the physical-labor cases. We secured $685,000 for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns to the lower extremities, and $195,000 for a derrickhand with complex shoulder injuries from pulling large pipes. Heavy industrial work, contested medical causation, and insurers who blame wear and tear are the patterns we see most.
Injuries and Claim Types We Handle for Shipyard Workers
- Back, neck, and spine injuries: Lifting plate, pulling cable, and working bent over in tight spaces leads to lumbar and cervical disc herniations. Carriers often point to degenerative disc disease, so the medical evidence linking the work to the injury is the heart of the claim.
- Shoulder and knee injuries: Overhead welding, grinding, and rigging cause rotator cuff tears, SLAP tears, and meniscus tears. Employers sometimes call these old sports injuries, and we answer that with treating-physician opinions and your work history.
- Burns and catastrophic injuries: Hot work, cutting torches, electrical contact, and fires in enclosed compartments cause severe burns and life-altering trauma that require long-term care and vocational planning.
- Fractures and crush injuries: Dropped steel, moving equipment, and falls from staging or ladders break feet, ankles, hips, and hands, often requiring specialists and multiple surgeries.
- Hearing loss and breathing conditions: Years of grinding, hammering, fumes, and coating work can produce gradual occupational conditions that are denied because there was no single accident date.
- Struck-by and vehicle incidents: A forklift, yard truck, or negligent contractor can injure you on or near the yard, which may open a personal injury claim against that third party on top of comp benefits.
- Denied, delayed, and cut-off benefits: Terminated wage checks, refused surgeries, and pressure to return to work before your doctor clears you are routine tactics we challenge.
What to Do After a Shipyard Injury in Louisiana
Get medical care first, then report the injury in writing. Louisiana expects notice to your employer within 30 days of the accident, and a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the date of injury. If comp payments have been made, that window can stretch to three years from the last payment, but do not count on an exception. Tell your supervisor, name the body parts hurt, and keep a copy of whatever you submit. If the incident was witnessed, write down who saw it while memories are fresh.
Before you give a recorded statement to the adjuster, talk to us. Statements get used later to argue the injury was something else or happened somewhere else. Keep a folder with incident reports, work restrictions, pay stubs, and every medical bill and prescription receipt.
Early on, it also helps to sort out whether your claim falls under state comp or a federal framework, since maritime work can raise that question. Our attorneys will look at where you worked and what you were doing when you were hurt, so the claim is filed in the right place the first time.
If treatment is denied, the clock is short. A utilization review dispute is filed on Form 1009 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, you have 45 days from the date it was issued to file Form 1008 under R.S. 23:1203.1. Disputed claims go to a workers’ compensation judge at the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, and the worker chooses where to file among the parish where the injury happened, the parish of residence when hurt, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business. For Lafourche and Terrebonne workers, that often means the district court for the Houma area. A final judgment can be appealed to the Louisiana Court of Appeals within 30 days of notice, and cases from that region generally go to the First Circuit.
The most common mistakes are waiting to report, returning to heavy work against doctor restrictions, skipping follow-up appointments, and accepting a settlement before the full medical picture is known.
Wage Benefits, Medical Care, and Returning to Work
Louisiana comp pays all reasonable and necessary medical treatment and replaces a portion of lost wages while you cannot work. Weekly rates are set under La. R.S. 23:1202 and fixed by the date of your accident, so they are not adjusted later. If you come back at lower pay or cannot earn at least 90 percent of your pre-injury wages, supplemental earnings benefits pay two-thirds of the difference. Those benefits run until you are released to full duty, you earn your old wages, or you reach the 520-week maximum, and weeks of temporary total disability count toward that total.
Shipyard work makes the return-to-work question hard. Light duty may not exist on a production floor, and a job offer that exceeds your restrictions should not be accepted just to avoid conflict. Your attorney can review any offer against your physician’s limits before you answer.
Shipyard Workers’ Comp Questions Answered
Do I need a lawyer for a shipyard workers’ compensation claim?
Not every claim needs one, but if benefits are denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or your injury will keep you out of work for a long time, a lawyer can change the outcome. The insurer has adjusters and attorneys; you should have someone on your side too.
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 comp cases are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report my injury?
Report it to your employer right away, and within 30 days at the latest. A late report gives the insurer an easy argument against you.
What is the deadline to file a claim in Louisiana?
Generally one year from the date of the accident, though payment of benefits can extend that to three years from the last payment. Because exceptions are narrow, speak with an attorney as soon as you can.
Can Bollinger fire me for filing a claim?
Louisiana and Mississippi both protect workers from retaliation for filing comp claims. If you were let go or punished after reporting an injury, tell us so we can review your options.
The insurer says my injury is pre-existing. Is my claim over?
No. If the job caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Strong medical evidence is how that argument gets answered.
My treatment was denied. What is the deadline to fight it?
You have 15 calendar days from receiving written notice to file Form 1009 with the OWC. Missing it can seriously weaken your position, so call quickly.
Can I also sue someone other than my employer?
Sometimes. If a negligent contractor, equipment maker, or outside driver contributed to your injury, you may have a personal injury claim alongside comp. In Louisiana, injuries on or after July 1, 2024 generally carry a two-year prescriptive period for those claims, and fault of 51 percent or more bars recovery for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026.
What if I was hurt in a vessel or dockside area rather than the yard itself?
Which law governs can depend on where you were and what work you were doing. We evaluate that at the start so your claim is not filed under the wrong system.
Will my health insurance pay while my comp claim is pending?
Comp is supposed to cover work-related treatment, and a health plan may later seek reimbursement. Tell your providers it is a work injury, and let us help sort out coverage if payments stall.
How long does a contested comp case take?
It depends on your medical course and how hard the insurer fights. Cases usually resolve after you reach maximum medical improvement or after a hearing, and we will give you a realistic outlook once we know your injury.
Do you speak Spanish?
Yes. Hablamos espanol, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with our team in their own language from the first call to the end of the case.
Serving Shipyard Workers Across South Louisiana and Beyond
Our work for Bollinger employees starts in Lafourche Parish, including Thibodaux, Raceland, Lockport, Larose, Galliano, Golden Meadow, and Cut Off, and extends into neighboring Terrebonne Parish, including Houma, Gray, Bayou Cane, Schriever, and Chauvin. We also represent injured workers in Jefferson Parish, St. Charles Parish, St. Mary Parish, and across the greater New Orleans area.
Farther afield, our attorneys handle claims in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and the rest of South Louisiana and north Louisiana. In Mississippi, we represent injured workers from Jackson and Madison to the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi, including those employed in shipbuilding and marine fabrication along the coast. If you were hurt on a yard, a dock, or a job site tied to shipbuilding and repair, we can help wherever you live.
Speak With a Bollinger Shipyards Workers’ Compensation Attorney
If you were hurt at a shipyard and the insurer is questioning your claim, delaying treatment, or pushing you back to work, call us. A Bollinger Shipyards workers’ compensation attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened, explain which benefits apply, and take over the fight with the insurer. Consultations are free, our phones are answered around the clock, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. We help injured workers. That is all we do.
