Columbus Head & Brain Injury Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers and accident victims in Columbus and across Mississippi and Louisiana, and head and brain injuries are among the claims where careful medical proof decides the outcome. A Columbus head & brain injury lawyer has to deal with an injury that often cannot be seen on the day it happens: a worker who struck his head on a steel beam may walk away, finish a shift, and only weeks later start forgetting instructions, losing words, or snapping at coworkers.
That delay is where claims get into trouble. Insurers look at a short gap between the accident and the first complaint, a clean-looking early scan, or a worker who said “I’m fine” at the scene, and they build a denial around it. Columbus sits in Lowndes County, with heavy industry, steel and manufacturing work, trucking along the highways that cross the area, and construction crews, so the settings where blows to the head happen are close to home. Our team knows how to turn a quiet, slow-developing brain injury into a documented claim.
Brain injury claims also carry more at stake than most. A fractured arm heals on a predictable schedule. A concussion with lingering cognitive effects, or a more serious traumatic injury, can change whether a person can return to the same job, and the benefits that follow depend on what the medical record shows.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Brain Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm serving Columbus, the rest of Lowndes County, and communities throughout Mississippi and south and north Louisiana. We have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients. 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 we speak Spanish.
Rob Lunsford, 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 in 2026 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. Andrew Rueff has tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict and regularly appears before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
Our results show what well-documented back, spine, and other serious injury claims can produce: $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 after being struck in his work vehicle, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Clients tell us the team listened, explained each stage, and stood up to the insurance company. That matters in a brain injury case, where the claim often rests on how well someone has built the medical story over many months.
Types of Head and Brain Injury Claims We Handle
- Concussions and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Often the hardest to prove because early imaging may look normal. Symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, light sensitivity, memory lapses, and trouble concentrating can surface days later, which insurers use to question whether the work event caused them.
- Falls From Height and Slips on Industrial Sites: Scaffolds, ladders, loading docks, and wet plant floors produce head strikes against concrete or steel, a frequent source of serious injury in construction and manufacturing settings.
- Struck-By Injuries: Falling tools, swinging loads, dropped materials, and moving equipment can hit a worker in the head even with a hard hat. These cases often involve witnesses and incident reports worth securing quickly.
- Truck and Vehicle Collisions on the Job: Delivery drivers, truckers, and employees running work errands can suffer head trauma in a wreck. When another driver caused it, a separate personal injury claim may exist alongside the comp claim.
- Burns, Explosions, and Catastrophic Industrial Events: Blasts and equipment failures in plants and oilfield settings can produce head injuries together with burns and other trauma, and these claims call for coordinated medical proof.
- Post-Concussion and Cognitive Complications: Persistent memory trouble, mood changes, sleep disruption, and difficulty returning to the same work. These effects drive wage-loss and disability questions long after the accident.
- Firefighter and First Responder Head Trauma and Related Conditions: Responders face blows during rescues and scene hazards, as well as work-related conditions such as posttraumatic stress that insurers frequently contest.
- Non-Work Accidents With Brain Injury: Car, truck, premises liability, and wrongful death cases arising outside the job, where fault and comparative blame shape the recovery.
What to Do After a Head Injury at Work in Mississippi
Start with the doctor, not the paperwork. Get evaluated the same day if you struck your head at work, even if you feel mostly fine, and tell the provider exactly what happened and every symptom, including the minor ones. A record created close to the accident is the best answer to an insurer who claims the problem started somewhere else. Keep following up if symptoms such as headaches, confusion, or memory gaps appear later, and tell each provider about them so they are written down.
Report the injury to your employer in writing. In Mississippi, you must give notice within 30 days of the accident, and the claim itself must be filed with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, generally within two years of the injury or the last compensation payment, using a Petition to Controvert. Coverage begins on your first day of employment, with no waiting period. These deadlines come from Mississippi Code section 71-3-35, and missing them can end a claim no matter how serious the injury. Brain injuries make the notice deadline especially risky, because a worker who is confused or foggy may not realize how hurt they are until well into the first month.
Write down the details while you remember them: where you were, what struck you, who saw it, and who you told. Coworkers’ names matter because the insurer may later claim nobody saw the event. Keep every medical record, work restriction note, and communication from the adjuster. Avoid giving a recorded statement to the insurance company before you have talked with an attorney, and be careful with casual social media posts, since an offhand photo can be used to suggest you are more capable than your doctors say.
Comp claims in Mississippi are heard by the Commission, not a court. An Administrative Judge hears the evidence at a hearing, and either side can seek review by the Full Commission, which examines the record rather than holding a new trial. A final award can then be appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court within 30 days, which may send the case to the Mississippi Court of Appeals. If your injury happened in Louisiana, a different path applies: you report to the employer within 30 days, file within one year of the accident in most cases, and your case goes to a workers’ compensation judge at the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. An accident caused by a third party, such as another driver, may support a separate injury claim with its own deadline.
How Brain Injury Claims Develop and Where They Get Contested
These cases rarely follow a straight line. The first stage is diagnosis and treatment, often involving emergency care, imaging, and then neurology or neuropsychology referrals as symptoms persist. The medical record built in this stage is the foundation of everything that follows, which is why gaps in treatment hurt so much.
Once benefits start, wage replacement generally runs at two-thirds of the average weekly wage up to a statutory weekly maximum in Mississippi, and total disability benefits are capped at 450 weeks. In Louisiana, temporary total disability gives way, if you return to work at reduced pay, to supplemental earnings benefits, which are paid at two-thirds of the difference between what you earned before and what you can earn now. Those benefits can last up to 520 weeks, with weeks of total disability counting toward that limit. Weekly limits in both states change over time, so we confirm the current figures for your date of injury.
The contest usually comes at the next stage. Insurers press a worker to return before the doctor releases them, request independent medical examinations, or argue a pre-existing condition explains the symptoms. A prior concussion, migraines, or an earlier head injury does not end a claim if the work event caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition. Answering that argument takes records, treating-physician opinions, and sometimes vocational evidence showing what you can realistically do now.
In Louisiana, a denial of recommended treatment follows a specific review route. You must file a Form 1009 within 15 calendar days of receiving written notice of the denial, and the medical director then has 30 days to decide. A further challenge requires a Form 1008 within 45 days of the decision. Judgments by a workers’ compensation judge can be appealed to the court of appeals, generally within 30 days where the appeal suspends the judgment. These short windows are another reason to speak with a lawyer early rather than waiting to see if the insurer reconsiders.
Common Questions About Head and Brain Injury Claims
Does a concussion qualify for workers’ compensation in Mississippi?
Yes, if it arose from your work. A concussion is a medical injury like any other, and benefits include reasonable and necessary treatment and wage replacement when you cannot work. What matters is proving the connection to your job through your medical records and an account of the incident.
My scan came back normal. Can I still have a brain injury claim?
Often yes. Mild traumatic brain injuries frequently do not show on standard imaging, and diagnosis may rest on symptoms, neurological and neuropsychological testing, and a treating physician’s opinion. A normal scan is a fact the insurer will use, but it is not the end of the claim.
How long do I have to report a head injury to my employer?
In both Mississippi and Louisiana, you should report within 30 days of the accident, and sooner is far safer. Late notice is a common reason claims are challenged, particularly where symptoms developed slowly.
How long do I have to file the claim?
In Mississippi, you generally have two years from the date of injury or the last compensation payment to file with the Commission. In Louisiana, a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, though payments already made can extend that period to three years from the last payment.
Do I need a lawyer for a brain injury comp claim?
You are not required to have one, but these claims are among the most heavily contested because the injury is hard to see and the long-term effects are hard to predict. If benefits have been denied, reduced, or cut off, or if you expect a long time away from work, a lawyer can make a real difference.
How much does it cost to hire your firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of your 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.
The insurer says my symptoms come from an earlier injury. What happens?
A pre-existing condition does not automatically defeat a claim. If your job caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Strong medical opinions comparing your condition before and after the work event are the usual answer to this argument.
Can I be fired for filing a claim after a head injury?
Both Mississippi and Louisiana protect workers from retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were let go or punished after reporting your injury, tell us during your consultation so we can review your options.
What if a coworker or another driver caused my head injury?
You may have both a workers’ compensation claim and a separate personal injury claim against the responsible third party. In Louisiana, the two-year period for most injury claims applies to injuries on or after July 1, 2024, and fault of 51 percent or more bars recovery for claims arising on or after January 1, 2026. Mississippi follows pure comparative negligence and generally allows three years for claims without another specific limit. We coordinate the comp claim and the injury claim so one does not undercut the other.
Will my health insurance pay while my claim is pending?
Medical treatment for a work injury is supposed to be paid through the comp carrier, and health insurers often resist covering work-related care. If the carrier denies treatment, we pursue the proper dispute route so that you are not stuck choosing between care and a bill. Tell your providers it is a work injury from the start so the records and billing stay consistent.
Can I get benefits if I cannot return to my old job after a brain injury?
Possibly. Depending on your restrictions and earning ability, you may qualify for continuing wage benefits, and in Louisiana supplemental earnings benefits when you return at lower pay. Permanent impairment findings from your treating doctors and vocational evidence shape what you receive.
Do you handle cases outside of Columbus?
Yes. We represent injured workers statewide in both Mississippi and Louisiana, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with our team in their own language from the first call.
Serving Head and Brain Injury Clients From Columbus Across Mississippi and Louisiana
Our work for clients in Columbus and Lowndes County reaches neighbors in the surrounding region of north Mississippi as well, including Starkville, West Point, Aberdeen, Tupelo, and Corinth. Across the state, we represent injured workers in Jackson, Madison, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Gulf Coast, and the Delta, from construction sites and plants to trucking routes and oilfield jobs.
In Louisiana, we serve clients in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and communities throughout south and north Louisiana. Wherever the injury happened, the same principles apply: prompt medical care, timely notice, and a record that holds up when the insurer pushes back.
Speak With a Columbus Head Injury Attorney Today
If you struck your head at work, or a brain injury is changing how you think, work, or live, talk with a Columbus head injury attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC before deadlines and early statements shape your claim. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you owe no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call us to discuss what happened and what your claim may be worth.
