Jackson Back & Spine Injury Lawyer
A back or spine injury at work usually comes down to a few concrete outcomes: surgery or injections that actually get approved, weekly checks that keep arriving while you recover, and a settlement or award that reflects what the injury has taken from your ability to earn a living. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm that handles claims for injured workers throughout Mississippi and Louisiana, and a Jackson back and spine injury lawyer from our team can take over the fight with the insurer while you focus on treatment.
Spine claims are among the most contested in workers’ compensation because the medical story is rarely simple. A herniated lumbar disc, a cervical injury that sends numbness down the arm, or a fusion recommendation can each carry a high price tag, and insurers know it. Adjusters read an MRI showing degenerative changes and conclude the problem was always there. They send you to a doctor they selected, who finds you ready for work. They authorize physical therapy for months while delaying the surgical consult. Each of those moves has an answer, but the answer depends on medical records, treating physician opinions, and your actual work history being assembled before the insurer’s version hardens into the file.
Mississippi workers’ compensation covers you from your first day on the job, with no waiting period and no minimum earnings requirement. That matters for spine cases because many back injuries happen to newer employees who are lifting, loading, climbing, or driving in physically demanding roles. If an employer or carrier suggests you have not been there long enough to qualify, that argument does not match how the Mississippi system works.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Jackson Spine Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers in Jackson, in Hinds, Madison, and Rankin counties, and across Mississippi and South Louisiana. 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 our 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 with clients from the first call through the end of the case.
Spine results are a large part of that record. We obtained a $685,000 settlement for a surgical tech with a lower back injury and $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury. We also recovered $385,000 for a project manager who suffered back injuries after being struck in his work vehicle, $190,000 for a truck driver who hurt his lower back in a wreck on the job, and $175,000 for a delivery driver with a lumbar injury. Other back and neck results include $145,000 for a retail supervisor and several neck and back settlements between $115,000 and $140,000. Every case turns on its own facts, but these outcomes reflect what careful medical development can achieve in disputed spine claims.
Founding partner Rob Lunsford 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 regularly appears before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, alongside attorneys Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher. Clients who write about us describe attorneys who listen, who fight the insurance company at every step, and who stay reachable through long recoveries.
Spine and Back Injuries We Handle for Jackson-Area Workers
- Lumbar disc herniations: Lifting, twisting, and repetitive loading in warehouses, distribution centers, and construction sites can rupture or bulge a disc in the lower back. Insurers often point to degenerative disc disease, so the claim depends on showing that the job caused or aggravated the condition.
- Cervical and neck injuries: Falls, overhead work, and vehicle collisions can injure the discs and nerves in the neck, producing radiating arm pain, weakness, and numbness that can end a worker’s ability to do manual labor.
- Spinal fusion and surgical cases: When a treating surgeon recommends fusion, discectomy, or other surgery, the carrier frequently delays or denies approval. These disputes usually turn on the treating physician’s opinion and the quality of the records behind it.
- Truck driver and delivery driver injuries: Long hauls, hard loading, and highway collisions around Jackson’s interstate corridors produce compression injuries and traumatic spine damage, and some of these crashes also support a separate claim against a negligent third-party driver.
- Construction and industrial falls: Falls from scaffolding, ladders, roofs, and equipment can fracture vertebrae or cause disc damage, and they are among the injuries most likely to lead to permanent restrictions.
- Healthcare worker back injuries: Nurses, aides, and surgical staff injure their backs lifting and repositioning patients, a pattern we have seen in cases including a surgical tech who recovered a six-figure settlement.
- Cumulative and aggravation injuries: Years of heavy work can wear down the spine until a single movement triggers disabling pain. The law does not require one dramatic accident, and an aggravated pre-existing condition can still be compensable.
What to Do After a Back or Spine Injury at Work in Mississippi
Report the injury to your employer right away, and in writing if you can. Mississippi law requires notice within 30 days of the accident, and waiting gives the carrier an easy argument that the injury happened somewhere else. Be specific about what you were doing, where it happened, and which body parts hurt, including the neck or leg symptoms people tend to leave out at first. Backs are often reported as “sore” when the real problem is a disc compressing a nerve, and a vague first report becomes the insurer’s exhibit later.
Get medical care and be honest with every provider about how the injury occurred and what your job requires. Your records are the foundation of the claim, and a missed appointment or a note that says “no known injury” can be quoted back at you. If the carrier directs you to a particular doctor, you should know that opinions from that doctor are not the last word. Following your physician’s restrictions matters too. Working outside them can hurt both your health and your claim.
The formal clock matters as well. In Mississippi, if no disability benefits have been paid within two years of the date of injury, the right to benefits is barred unless a claim has been filed with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission during that period. The usual vehicle is a Petition to Controvert, and the two years generally run from the injury or from the last compensation payment. Receiving some medical treatment is not the same as receiving disability payments, so do not assume the clock has paused just because the carrier approved an MRI. The notice and limitation rules appear in Section 71-3-35 of the Mississippi Code.
Workers’ compensation claims in Mississippi are administered by the Commission, not a court. Disputed cases are heard by an Administrative Judge at an evidentiary hearing, and either side may seek review before the Full Commission, which sits in Jackson. The Full Commission reviews the record made before the Administrative Judge rather than holding a new trial, which means the evidence you build at the first hearing is the evidence you live with. A final award can then be appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court within 30 days of its filing and notice to the parties, on the record only, and that court may assign the case to the Mississippi Court of Appeals. Because appeals are decided on the existing record, medical testimony, work history, and vocational proof need to be right the first time.
Avoid the mistakes that sink spine claims: giving a recorded statement without preparing, signing medical releases wider than the injury requires, going back to full duty before your surgeon clears you, and posting activity online that an adjuster can characterize as inconsistent with your restrictions. If the claim has been denied or benefits have stopped, call us promptly. The insurer is already building its file, and you should be building yours.
How Insurers Fight Back and Spine Claims Are Won
The most common defense in a spine case is the pre-existing condition argument. Most adults past their thirties have some disc degeneration on imaging, and carriers treat that as a reason to deny. The legal question is different: did your work cause, worsen, or accelerate the condition? A worker who had no symptoms and no treatment before a lifting incident, and who now has a herniation pressing on a nerve root, has a strong causation story even if the MRI also shows age-related changes. Winning that point usually requires a treating physician willing to state causation clearly, contemporaneous records of the onset of symptoms, and testimony about the physical demands of the job.
Wage benefits are the second battleground. In Mississippi, temporary and permanent total disability are paid at two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a statutory weekly maximum, and generally cannot run beyond 450 weeks. Permanent partial disability in non-scheduled cases is also capped at 450 weeks, with the amount depending on how much earning capacity you have lost. For a spine injury, that loss often involves more than a medical impairment rating. A welder who can no longer lift, climb, or stand for a full shift has lost earning capacity in ways a simple percentage may not capture, and presenting vocational evidence is often what separates a modest award from one that matches the real impact.
Some back injuries also involve someone other than your employer. A negligent driver who hits your work vehicle, or a contractor whose unsafe site causes a fall, may be liable in a separate personal injury claim. Mississippi follows pure comparative negligence, so any fault assigned to you reduces a third-party recovery rather than eliminating it, and the general three-year period for claims without a specific limitation applies to many of these cases. We coordinate the comp claim and the injury claim so they support rather than undercut each other.
Questions About Jackson Back and Spine Injury Claims
Do I need a lawyer for a back injury workers’ compensation claim?
Not every claim requires one, but spine cases are different from a minor sprain. If your benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or if surgery has been recommended or your injury will keep you out of work for a long stretch, an attorney can make a real difference. The insurer has adjusters and lawyers protecting its side, and you should have someone protecting yours.
How much does it cost to hire your firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and we are paid only if we recover benefits or a settlement for you. Attorney fees in workers’ compensation are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report a back injury in Mississippi?
You must give your employer notice within 30 days of the accident. Do it immediately and in writing if possible, because a late or vague report gives the carrier an argument that the injury is unrelated to work.
How long do I have to file a claim with the Commission?
Generally two years from the date of injury or the date of the last compensation payment. If no disability benefits have been paid in that period and no claim has been filed with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, the right to benefits can be lost. Do not wait to see whether the carrier will make things right.
What if the insurer says my back problem is just degenerative disc disease?
A pre-existing condition does not automatically end your claim. If your job caused, worsened, or sped up the condition, benefits may still be owed. The case usually depends on medical opinion from your treating doctor, the timing of your symptoms, and proof of what your job physically demanded.
Can the insurance company make me see its own doctor?
Carriers often seek independent medical examinations, and those doctors frequently reach conclusions favorable to the insurer. Their opinion is evidence, not a final ruling, and it can be challenged with your treating physician’s findings and the objective imaging in your file.
Will I get paid while I am off work with a spinal injury?
If you are medically unable to work, Mississippi provides wage replacement of up to two-thirds of your average weekly wage, subject to a weekly maximum set by law. Total disability benefits generally cannot extend beyond 450 weeks. Disputes about when you can return to work are common, so follow your physician’s restrictions closely.
What happens if my doctor recommends surgery and the carrier refuses?
A denial of recommended surgery is a dispute that can be taken to the Commission for resolution. We gather the surgeon’s reasoning, the imaging, and the treatment history to show why the procedure is reasonable and necessary. Do not pay for it yourself assuming you will be reimbursed without first addressing the denial.
Can I be fired for filing a comp claim after hurting my back?
Mississippi and Louisiana both protect workers from retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim. If you were let go or disciplined after reporting an injury, tell us during your consultation so we can review your options.
Can I pursue a claim against someone other than my employer?
Sometimes. If a negligent driver, contractor, or equipment maker contributed to your spine injury, you may have a separate injury claim in addition to comp benefits. Mississippi’s pure comparative negligence rule reduces a recovery by your share of fault instead of barring it, and we make sure the two claims are handled together.
What if I was hurt in Louisiana but live near Jackson?
The state where the work and injury occurred matters. Louisiana generally requires notice to your employer within 30 days and a formal claim within one year of the accident, and its cases go before the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. We handle claims in both states, so call us and we can work out which rules apply.
Serving Spine Injury Clients Across Jackson and Central Mississippi
Our work for injured workers starts in Jackson and Hinds County, including the communities of Clinton, Byram, Terry, Raymond, Bolton, Utica, Edwards, and Pocahontas. From there we represent clients across the Jackson metro in Madison County, including Madison and Ridgeland, and in Rankin County communities such as Brandon, Pearl, and Flowood. Workers come to us from the industrial and warehouse corridors, the hospitals and medical offices of the capital area, and construction sites throughout the region.
We also serve injured workers in Hattiesburg, the Gulf Coast, Southaven and north Mississippi, and the Delta, and we handle Mississippi claims statewide. On the Louisiana side, our team represents clients in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and across South Louisiana and north Louisiana. Wherever the injury happened, the goal is the same: the medical care your spine needs and the wage benefits the law provides.
Talk to a Jackson Back and Spine Injury Attorney Today
If you hurt your back or neck on the job, a Jackson back and spine injury attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review your situation, explain the deadlines that apply to you, and take on the insurance company directly. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call us today to talk through your claim.
