Citgo Lake Charles Refinery Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
Getting the surgery approved, keeping the weekly checks coming, and not being pushed back to the unit before your body can handle it: that is what a refinery worker injured at the Citgo complex in Lake Charles is really after. Citgo Lake Charles refinery workers’ compensation lawyer representation from Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is built around those outcomes. The firm handles workers’ compensation claims for injured workers across Mississippi and Louisiana, including Calcasieu Parish, Lake Charles, and the surrounding communities of southwest Louisiana.
Refinery injuries rarely look like office injuries. They involve falls from scaffolding and pipe racks, burns from process lines, chemical and vapor exposure, crush injuries around heavy equipment, and the slow wear on backs, shoulders, and knees from years of turnaround work. They also tend to involve layered employment: a worker may be on the payroll of a contractor, a staffing company, or a specialty trade firm rather than the refinery owner. That structure affects who owes benefits, who the adjuster answers to, and whether a second claim exists against someone else. A good claim starts with sorting that out early.
Why Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe Handles Refinery Injury Claims Differently
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm serving injured workers throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, including Lake Charles and the rest of Calcasieu Parish. The firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients, advances the costs of each case, offers free consultations, and is paid only if benefits or a settlement are recovered. Phones are answered 24 hours a day, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language, a real consideration in an industrial workforce that includes many Spanish-speaking craft and contract workers.
The people behind the work 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 successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, and Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The results are the kind that refinery and industrial claims produce. The firm 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 his work vehicle was struck, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns to the lower extremities. It has also resolved claims for a derrickhand with complex shoulder injuries from pulling large pipe and a diesel mechanic with a SLAP tear. Clients consistently describe an attorney who fought the insurance company at every step and a team that listened and kept them informed.
Injuries and Claim Types That Come Out of Refinery Work
- Burns and Thermal Injuries: Steam, hot hydrocarbons, flash fires, and contact with heated lines can cause deep burns that require grafting, long recovery, and permanent scarring. These are often the most serious claims, and they frequently support permanent disability and catastrophic injury benefits.
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Lifting pipe and fittings, working in awkward positions during turnarounds, and falls can cause lumbar and cervical disc herniations. Insurers commonly blame degenerative disc disease, so the medical evidence tying the job to the injury matters.
- Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Torn rotator cuffs, SLAP tears, ACL tears, and meniscus tears are common among pipefitters, welders, operators, and laborers climbing and handling heavy tools. Employers sometimes call these old sports injuries.
- Fractures and Crush Injuries: Dropped loads, moving equipment, and falls from elevation can break feet, ankles, hips, and other bones, often requiring specialists and complex surgical repair.
- Chemical and Vapor Exposure: Inhalation of process chemicals and fumes can cause acute respiratory injury and, in some cases, conditions that develop over time. These claims depend on documenting what the worker was exposed to and when.
- Contractor and Staffing-Agency Employees: Many people working inside a refinery are employed by someone other than the facility owner. Benefits generally flow through the direct employer’s insurer, and the arrangement can open a separate claim against a negligent outside party.
- Vehicle Accidents on the Job: Workers struck while driving between units, to a remote site, or on a public road may have both a compensation claim and a personal injury claim.
What to Do After a Refinery Injury in Lake Charles
Report the injury to your employer right away and in writing if you can. 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 date of injury. If compensation payments have been made, that filing period may extend to three years from the last payment, but do not count on an exception. Also tell the first medical provider you see that the injury happened at work, and describe every body part that hurts, not only the most obvious one. Records that leave out a shoulder or a knee on day one are routinely used later to argue it was not part of the accident.
Get the incident documented: who saw it, which unit or work area, what equipment or substance was involved, and whether a supervisor or safety coordinator wrote a report. Photograph the scene if it is safe and permitted, save the names of coworkers who witnessed it, and keep a copy of anything you sign. Be cautious with recorded statements to the insurer before you understand your rights, and do not agree to return to work before your treating physician releases you.
If the claim is disputed or the insurer stops paying, the case moves through the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. Louisiana has a District Workers’ Compensation Court in Lake Charles, and under Louisiana law the worker chooses where the hearing is held from among the parish where the injury occurred, the parish where the worker lived at the time, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business. When a medical treatment request is denied through utilization review, the clock is short: the aggrieved party has 15 calendar days from written notice of the denial to file a dispute on LWC Form 1009, and the medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide. If you disagree with that decision, you have 45 days from its issuance to file Form 1008 to take it further. Missing either window can cost you the treatment.
How Benefits Work When a Refinery Injury Keeps You Off the Job
Louisiana workers’ compensation pays for reasonable and necessary medical treatment, wage replacement while you are temporarily unable to work, and additional benefits for permanent disability, catastrophic injury, or death. Weekly compensation limits are set each year and are fixed by the date of your accident. Because refinery wages, especially with overtime and turnaround premiums, can be well above average, the way your average weekly wage is calculated can significantly affect your benefit, and insurers do not always include everything they should.
If you return to work but cannot earn at least 90 percent of your pre-injury wage, you may qualify for supplemental earnings benefits. These are 66 2/3 percent of the difference between your pre-injury average monthly wage and what you earn or are able to earn. They can continue until you are released to full duty, you are earning your pre-injury wage again, or you reach the 520-week maximum, with temporary total disability weeks counting toward that total. Whether you are really able to earn what the insurer says you can is a frequent fight, and it often turns on vocational evidence and your actual physical restrictions.
When a workers’ compensation judge issues a final judgment, either side can appeal to the Louisiana court of appeal. For Calcasieu Parish, that is the Third Circuit. The appeal must be filed within 30 days if it will suspend the judgment, or within 60 days if it will not, and the time runs from the day after the judgment was signed or the day after notice was mailed, whichever is later.
When Someone Other Than Your Employer Caused the Injury
Workers’ compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against your own employer, but it does not shield everyone else on a refinery site. A negligent equipment manufacturer, an unrelated contractor whose crew created the hazard, or a driver who hit your work truck may be liable in a separate injury claim. Louisiana’s prescriptive period for most injury claims arising on or after July 1, 2024 is two years from the day the injury is sustained. For causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, Louisiana also bars recovery for a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault, while a lower share of fault reduces the award proportionally. Those rules make it important to coordinate the compensation claim and any injury claim so that statements and medical records in one do not undercut the other.
Common Questions About Citgo Lake Charles Refinery Injury Claims
Do I need a lawyer for a refinery workers’ compensation claim?
Not every claim requires one, but if benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or if your injury will keep you out of work for a long time, an attorney can make a major difference. The insurer has adjusters and lawyers protecting its interests, and refinery claims often involve multiple companies and disputed medical causation.
How much does it cost to hire Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of the case, and it is paid only if it recovers benefits or a settlement. Attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report my injury and file a claim in Louisiana?
Report to your employer within 30 days of the injury. A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, and that period may extend to three years from the last compensation payment if benefits were paid. Do not rely on the extension; speak with an attorney early.
I work for a contractor, not Citgo directly. Can I still get benefits?
Generally yes. Your direct employer’s workers’ compensation insurer is usually responsible for your benefits, regardless of whose facility you were working in. The arrangement may also give you a separate claim against a third party whose negligence contributed to the injury.
The insurer says my injury is from an old condition. Is my claim over?
No. A pre-existing condition does not automatically end a claim. If your work caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Answering this argument with strong medical evidence is a core part of the work.
Can my employer fire me for filing a claim?
Louisiana protects workers from being fired in retaliation for filing a compensation claim. If you were let go or punished after reporting an injury, tell the firm during your consultation so your options can be reviewed.
What if my doctor recommends surgery and the insurer refuses?
A denial of recommended treatment can be challenged through the utilization review process. You have 15 calendar days from the written denial to file Form 1009, and the medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide. Acting quickly keeps your treatment on track.
Will my own health insurance cover treatment while my claim is pending?
Sometimes workers use group health coverage when the compensation insurer denies a claim, but this can create reimbursement problems later. Talk to an attorney before submitting work-related treatment to health insurance so the claim is not complicated.
Can I receive workers’ compensation and also sue someone for my refinery injury?
If a party other than your employer contributed to the injury, you may pursue a separate injury claim alongside your compensation benefits. The two claims should be managed together so they work for you rather than against you.
How long will a claim like this take to resolve?
It depends on your recovery. Many cases are not settled until the treating physician reaches maximum medical improvement and the long-term restrictions are clear. Disputed claims that go before a workers’ compensation judge take longer than those where benefits are paid without a fight.
Do you represent Spanish-speaking refinery workers?
Yes. Hablamos espanol. Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language from the first call to the end of the case.
Serving Refinery Workers From Lake Charles Across Southwest Louisiana
The firm’s work for Citgo-area and other industrial workers starts in Lake Charles and Calcasieu Parish and reaches into the surrounding communities where refinery and plant crews live, including Sulphur, Westlake, Moss Bluff, Vinton, and DeQuincy. We also serve workers in neighboring parishes such as Cameron, Jefferson Davis, Allen, and Beauregard, as well as Lafayette and the rest of Acadiana. Across the state, the firm represents injured workers in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, and throughout south and north Louisiana.
Many industrial workers travel for turnarounds and project work, so the firm also represents injured workers throughout Mississippi, including Jackson, Madison, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Gulf Coast, the Delta, and north Mississippi. Wherever the injury happened, the goal is the same: get the medical care approved, get wage benefits paid, and hold the insurer to what the law requires.
Talk With a Lake Charles Refinery Workers’ Compensation Attorney
If you were hurt at the Citgo refinery or another industrial site in the Lake Charles area, a Lake Charles refinery workers’ compensation attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened, explain which deadlines apply to you, and take over the dealings with your employer and its insurer. Call today for a free consultation. Phones are answered 24 hours a day, and you pay no fee unless the firm recovers benefits for you.
