Jackson Electrical Shock/Electrocution Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers in Jackson, in Hinds County, and across Mississippi and South Louisiana, including people hurt by live current on construction sites, utility corridors, industrial plants, and oil field locations. A Jackson electrical shock/electrocution lawyer has to deal with an injury that rarely announces its full extent on day one. A worker who walks away from a shock, declines the ambulance, and goes back to the shift can develop heart rhythm problems, nerve damage, or cognitive changes days or weeks later, and by then the employer’s version of events may already be written down.
The legal consequences follow from that medical reality. Insurers tend to read a delayed diagnosis as proof that the work incident was minor or that something else caused the problem. Surface burns may be small while the damage along the current’s path through muscle, nerve, and the cardiac system is not. How you report the incident, what you tell the first doctor, and whether the current’s path is documented can shape the claim for years.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for an Electrocution Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm serving Jackson, Madison, the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and communities throughout Mississippi, along with New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and the rest of Louisiana. The attorneys carry over 75 years of combined experience and have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients. Consultations are free, the firm advances case costs, and you pay no fee unless 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 from the first call.
The people handling your file matter in a case like this. 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 successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict and routinely appears before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The firm’s results include a $685,000 settlement 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. Those are not electrical cases, but they show the firm’s record with serious injuries, including burns, that insurers fought. Clients describe attorneys who listened, stayed in contact, and pushed back on the insurance company at every step.
Where Electrical Injuries Happen to Mississippi Workers
- Utility and Line Work: Linemen and tree crews working near energized distribution lines face contact injuries, arc flash, and step-potential shock. Storm restoration around the Jackson metro area puts crews on live equipment under time pressure.
- Construction and Ironwork: Cranes, boom lifts, scaffolding, and steel members can contact overhead lines. Ironworkers and general laborers also meet temporary power panels, damaged extension cords, and improperly grounded tools.
- Industrial Plants and Maintenance: Electricians and maintenance mechanics are hurt when lockout/tagout fails, when a panel is mislabeled, or when someone re-energizes equipment during service.
- Oil Field and Rig Work: Generators, pump motors, and temporary wiring on drilling sites create shock and burn exposure, and electrical burns are frequently complicated by fire or explosion injuries.
- Firefighters and First Responders: Responders face downed lines, energized vehicles after wrecks, and live panels inside burning structures.
- Truck Drivers and Equipment Operators: Dump beds, cranes, and tall loads striking overhead lines can energize an entire vehicle, injuring the operator and anyone touching the machine.
- Healthcare and Light Industrial Settings: Faulty medical equipment, kitchen appliances, and aging wiring cause lower-voltage shocks that still produce cardiac and neurological problems.
What to Do After a Shock or Electrocution at Work
Get medical evaluation the same day, even if you feel fine. Electrical current can disturb the heart’s rhythm without leaving obvious marks, and a prompt cardiac workup and examination of entry and exit points creates the medical record your claim will rest on. Tell every provider that you were shocked at work and describe how it happened, including what you touched and how long contact lasted. A chart that says only “burn to hand” invites an insurer to minimize the injury.
Report the incident to your employer in writing as soon as you can. In Mississippi the notice must be given within 30 days of the accident, and Louisiana uses the same 30-day notice window. Do not wait to see whether symptoms resolve. A formal claim has its own clock: in Mississippi, you generally have two years from the date of injury, or from the last compensation payment, to file a Petition to Controvert with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, and if no disability benefits are paid within that period the right to benefits can be barred unless a claim was filed. In Louisiana, a claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, extended in some cases when benefits have been paid. Because these rules have exceptions, calling a lawyer early is safer than doing the math yourself.
Preserve the scene evidence you can lawfully gather: photographs of the equipment, panel, cord, or line involved, the names of coworkers who saw it, any incident report, and the names of supervisors who responded. Equipment tends to be repaired or replaced quickly after an incident, and that can destroy proof of a defect. A lawyer can send a preservation demand to make sure it is kept.
Be careful with the insurer’s adjuster. Recorded statements are used to lock you into early descriptions that may leave out symptoms that had not yet appeared. Avoid signing broad medical releases, and do not accept a return to full duty before your own doctor clears you. In Mississippi, contested claims go to the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, which is an administrative body rather than a court. Evidentiary hearings are held before an Administrative Judge, and decisions can be reviewed by the Full Commission in Jackson on the existing record, not through a new trial. A final Commission award can then be appealed within 30 days to the Mississippi Supreme Court, which may assign the case to the Mississippi Court of Appeals.
Benefits Available When Current Causes Lasting Injury
Mississippi workers’ compensation covers a worker from the first day of employment, with no waiting period, for employers subject to the law. Medical benefits include emergency care, burn treatment, surgery, specialist evaluation, and rehabilitation. Wage loss benefits for temporary or permanent total disability run at two-thirds of the average weekly wage, subject to a statutory weekly maximum and a cap of 450 weeks. Permanent partial disability is also limited to 450 weeks in the cases where that cap applies. Louisiana provides medical care, wage replacement during temporary disability, and supplemental earnings benefits if a worker returns at reduced pay and cannot earn 90 percent or more of pre-injury wages, with a 520-week maximum that counts temporary total disability weeks.
Electrical injuries often produce disability that does not fit neatly into one category: chronic nerve pain, weakness, tremor, memory or concentration problems, sleep disruption, and cardiac limits on strenuous work. Documenting those functional limits through treating physicians is what separates a claim that resolves for a fair value from one that gets undervalued as a minor burn.
Claims Against Parties Other Than Your Employer
Workers’ compensation generally limits your claim against your own employer, but it does not shield everyone. If a subcontractor left an energized line unmarked, a manufacturer sold a defective tool, a property owner failed to maintain wiring, or a utility ignored safe clearance rules, you may have a separate personal injury claim in addition to comp benefits. Those claims can reach damages comp does not, such as pain and suffering. In Mississippi, most claims with no other specific deadline carry a three-year limit, and the law reduces recovery by your share of fault instead of barring it. Louisiana’s rules differ and now include a bar on recovery for a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault for causes of action arising on or after the date the new rule took effect. Because comp carriers often assert reimbursement rights against a third-party recovery, the two claims must be coordinated.
Common Reasons Insurers Push Back on Shock Claims
Delayed symptoms are the most frequent target. When a heart or nerve problem appears after the incident, the carrier argues the shock was trivial or that a pre-existing condition explains everything. The answer is medical evidence tying the symptoms to the electrical exposure, ideally from cardiology, neurology, and burn or plastic surgery specialists. A pre-existing condition does not end a claim if work caused, worsened, or accelerated it. Other common defenses include disputing that the incident occurred at work, claiming the worker violated safety rules, and pressing for release to work before recovery. The firm builds these cases with medical records, coworker accounts, and work history so each argument has an answer on the record.
Questions About Electrical Shock and Electrocution Claims
Do I have a workers’ compensation claim if the shock seemed minor?
Yes, if it happened in the course of your work. Severity affects the value of the claim, not whether coverage exists. Minor-seeming shocks can still cause cardiac and neurological problems that surface later, so report it and get checked.
How soon must I report an electrical injury in Mississippi?
Notice to your employer is due within 30 days of the accident. Report in writing when you can and keep a copy.
How long do I have to file a claim?
In Mississippi, you generally have two years from the date of injury or last compensation payment to file with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. In Louisiana, a claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, with possible extension when benefits have been paid.
What if my heart or nerve symptoms started weeks after the shock?
Delayed onset is common and is not a reason to abandon the claim. What matters is linking the later condition to the incident through medical opinion and a consistent record of when symptoms began.
Will workers’ compensation pay for specialists like a cardiologist or neurologist?
Reasonable and necessary treatment related to the injury is covered, which can include specialist evaluation. Carriers sometimes deny referrals, and a lawyer can challenge those denials.
Can I sue anyone besides my employer?
Possibly. Equipment manufacturers, property owners, contractors, and utilities that contributed to the hazard can face separate injury claims, which sit alongside your comp benefits.
What if the insurance company says I was careless?
Fault generally does not bar a workers’ compensation claim. It becomes more relevant in a third-party injury claim, where Mississippi reduces recovery by your percentage of fault and Louisiana applies its own comparative fault rules.
My family member died from an electrocution at work. What can we do?
Dependents may be entitled to death benefits under workers’ compensation, and a third party’s negligence may support a wrongful death claim. In Mississippi, a wrongful death claim based on negligence generally has a three-year limit, while Louisiana uses the longer of one year from death or two years from injury.
Can I be fired for filing a claim?
Both Mississippi and Louisiana protect workers from retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were let go or disciplined after reporting a shock, tell your attorney right away.
How much does it cost to hire the firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, the firm advances case costs, and fees are paid only if benefits or a settlement are recovered, with fees limited and approved under state law.
What if I was working through a staffing agency or as a subcontractor?
Coverage and responsibility can be split among the agency, the host employer, and the general contractor. Sorting out who owes benefits, and who else may be liable, is a threshold issue worth settling early.
Serving Electrical Injury Clients Across Jackson and Hinds County
The firm represents injured workers from Jackson and the surrounding Hinds County communities of Clinton, Byram, Terry, Raymond, Bolton, Utica, Edwards, and Pocahontas, and neighboring Madison County cities such as Madison and Ridgeland. Clients also come from Rankin County and the Pearl and Flowood area, and from Brandon, Pearl, and Canton. From there the firm’s work extends to Hattiesburg, the Gulf Coast, Southaven in north Mississippi, and the Delta, where line work, agriculture, and industrial maintenance generate electrical injuries. In Louisiana, the firm serves workers in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and communities across South Louisiana and north Louisiana, including the plants and oil field operations where high-voltage exposure is a daily risk.
Talk With a Jackson Electrocution Injury Attorney
If you were shocked on the job, the early decisions about medical care, reporting, and what you tell the insurer carry real weight. A Jackson electrocution injury attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened, identify every source of recovery, and deal with the employer and carrier while you focus on treatment. Call to schedule a free consultation. There is no fee unless the firm recovers benefits for you.
