Jackson Highway, Roadway & Bridge Worker Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers who build, repair, and maintain roads and bridges, from Hinds County and the surrounding Jackson area to communities across Mississippi and South Louisiana. Our practice centers on workers’ compensation, and flaggers, equipment operators, pavers, laborers, ironworkers, and inspectors on public works crews are exactly the kind of clients who need it.
Anyone searching for a Jackson highway, roadway and bridge worker lawyer is usually dealing with a problem that comes from the job site itself. Highway work puts people a few feet from live traffic, under suspended loads, on elevated decks, and beside heavy equipment that backs up and swings without warning. Injuries from those conditions tend to be serious: crushed limbs, spinal damage, fractures from falls off girders and forms, burns from hot asphalt, and the slow joint and back damage that comes from years of operating vibrating machinery.
These claims also tend to involve more than one party. A road crew may include employees of a prime contractor, a subcontractor, a staffing agency, and a state or local agency, and the question of who owes you comp benefits, and who might owe you more, is not always obvious. Sorting that out early shapes everything that follows.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Roadway Construction Injury
Workers’ compensation is the center of this firm’s practice, not a side matter taken when it happens to walk in. Our attorneys bring more than 75 years of combined experience to claims that have been denied, delayed, or cut off early, and we have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for injured workers in Mississippi and Louisiana. 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 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, which also handles Louisiana claims before workers’ compensation judges and on appeal.
The results that matter most for construction-site claims include a $600,000 settlement for a construction worker with a complex back injury, a $385,000 settlement for a project manager injured when his work vehicle was struck, and a $221,000 settlement for an oil rig worker with severe burns to the lower extremities. Heavy-industry injuries to the back, shoulders, and legs are the daily work of this firm. Clients consistently say we listened, stayed responsive, and stood up to the insurance company at every step. We charge nothing up front, advance the costs of the case, and are paid only if we recover benefits for you. Consultations are free, phones are answered around the clock, and we speak Spanish, which matters on crews where many workers are more comfortable in their first language.
Injuries and Claim Types Common Among Road and Bridge Crews
- Struck-by and caught-between injuries: Workers on active lanes are hit by passing vehicles, and those inside work zones are pinned by backing dump trucks, loaders, rollers, and pavers. These accidents often produce fractures, crush injuries, and traumatic spinal damage, and they frequently involve a negligent outside driver in addition to the comp claim.
- Falls from bridge decks, girders, and forms: Ironworkers and form crews work at height over water, ravines, and live roadways. Falls cause fractures of the hips, ankles, and wrists, along with head and back injuries that can end a career.
- Back, neck, and spine injuries: Lifting rebar, wrestling screed equipment, and years on vibrating machinery wear down discs. Insurers often point to degenerative disc disease, so we build the medical record to show how the work caused or accelerated the injury.
- Shoulder and knee injuries: Rotator cuff tears, SLAP tears, and meniscus tears are common among operators and laborers. Employers sometimes call them old sports injuries, which is an argument we are used to answering.
- Burns from asphalt, tar, and hot work: Paving and bridge repair expose workers to hot-mix asphalt, torch cutting, and welding. Severe burns can mean skin grafts, long recoveries, and permanent scarring or loss of function.
- Heat illness and respiratory exposure: Summer pavement work in Mississippi and Louisiana pushes workers toward heat stroke and exhaustion, while dust, silica, and fumes can cause lasting lung problems.
- Work-vehicle collisions: Inspectors, foremen, and project managers spend much of the day driving between sites. A wreck on the job can support both a comp claim and a separate claim against the at-fault driver.
- Hearing loss and repetitive trauma: Jackhammers, pile drivers, and heavy equipment cause gradual damage that does not announce itself on a single day but is still compensable when tied to the work.
What to Do After a Work-Zone Injury
Get medical care first and tell every provider the injury happened at work. Then report it to your supervisor or employer right away. Both Mississippi and Louisiana require notice within 30 days of the accident, and waiting gives the insurer a ready-made defense. Make the report in writing if you can, keep a copy, and note who you told and when. If a co-worker, flagger, or inspector saw what happened, write down their names while memories are fresh.
Mississippi gives you two years to file a Petition to Controvert with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, measured from the date of injury or the last compensation payment, and that clock can matter even when the employer has been cooperative. Louisiana generally requires a formal claim within one year of the injury, which can stretch to three years from the last payment if benefits have been paid. Do not assume a paid medical bill means your deadline has been protected.
Photograph the scene if you can do so safely: the work zone setup, the equipment involved, missing barriers, absent spotters, or damaged rigging. On highway jobs, traffic control plans, daily logs, and equipment maintenance records can matter, and employers sometimes lose or overwrite them. Hold on to pay stubs from before the injury, because your average weekly wage drives your benefit rate. Be careful with recorded statements to the adjuster; what you say about prior back pain or an earlier injury will be used to argue the problem is pre-existing.
If your claim is denied in Mississippi, it goes before an Administrative Judge at the Commission, and either side can seek review by the Full Commission, which examines the record made at the hearing rather than holding a new trial. A final Commission award can be appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court within 30 days, and the Supreme Court may assign the case to the Mississippi Court of Appeals. In Louisiana, claims are heard by workers’ compensation judges in the Office of Workers’ Compensation, with appeals to the appropriate circuit court of appeal. If treatment is denied, Louisiana gives you only 15 calendar days to file a utilization review dispute on Form 1009, so a denial letter should never sit in a drawer.
Public Agencies, Contractors, and Third-Party Claims
Road and bridge work is unusual because so much of it is public. Whether you are on a state project, a county road crew, or a city street job, the structure of who employs you decides where your benefits come from and who else might be liable. Employees of a prime contractor and its subcontractors are generally covered by comp, and the exclusive-remedy rule usually keeps you from suing your own employer. But it does not shield outside parties.
If a motorist drives through a work zone and hits you, if a different contractor’s crew creates an unsafe condition, or if defective equipment fails, you may have a separate personal injury claim on top of comp. That claim can recover pain and suffering and full lost earning capacity, which comp does not pay. It also carries different deadlines. Louisiana now applies a two-year period to most injury claims arising after mid-2024, and in Louisiana a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing on causes of action arising in 2026 or later. Mississippi uses pure comparative negligence, so your recovery is reduced by your share of fault rather than barred, and its general limit for negligence is three years. Claims against a county or other governmental body in Mississippi carry a one-year limit and notice requirements under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act, so a crash involving a public vehicle or a government-controlled site needs fast attention.
Our personal injury attorneys coordinate these claims with the comp case so that a settlement in one does not undercut the other. Comp carriers often hold a lien on third-party recoveries, and handling that reimbursement correctly can change what you actually keep.
How Insurers Fight Highway Worker Claims and What Benefits Cover
The arguments are predictable. The insurer says the accident was not work-related, blames a degenerative condition, claims you were not following safety rules, or pushes a return to work before your doctor releases you. On crews that move from project to project, they may dispute who your employer was or whether a staffing agency or subcontractor is responsible. We meet these with medical opinions, witness statements, and your work history.
Covered medical care includes surgery, therapy, medication, and the specialists a serious fracture or spinal injury demands. Wage benefits in Mississippi are two-thirds of your average weekly wage up to a statutory maximum, for temporary and permanent total disability, generally not exceeding 450 weeks. Permanent partial disability payments in non-scheduled cases are likewise capped at 450 weeks. Benefits begin from your first day on the job, with no waiting period. In Louisiana, temporary total disability pays during recovery, and supplemental earnings benefits apply when you return at reduced pay, calculated as two-thirds of the gap between your old and current earning ability when you cannot earn 90 percent of your pre-injury wages, up to a 520-week limit with temporary total weeks counting toward it. Maximum weekly rates in both states are set by statute and adjusted periodically.
Questions Highway and Bridge Workers Ask
Do I need a lawyer if my employer says they will handle my claim?
Employers and their carriers have their own interests, and an offer to “take care of it” does not protect your deadlines or your benefit rate. If benefits are denied, delayed, cut off, or your injury will keep you out of work for a long time, a lawyer can change the outcome. Consultations with our firm are free.
How long do I have to report a work injury in Mississippi and Louisiana?
Both states require notice to your employer within 30 days of the accident. Missing that window can jeopardize the entire claim, so report in writing as soon as possible after the injury.
What is the deadline to file a formal claim?
In Mississippi, you generally have two years from the date of injury or the last compensation payment to file a Petition to Controvert with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. In Louisiana, a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, which may extend to three years from the last payment when benefits have been paid.
Can I be fired for filing a comp claim after getting hurt on a road crew?
Both states protect workers from retaliation for filing a claim. If you were laid off, demoted, or pushed out after reporting an injury, tell us so we can evaluate whether the action was retaliatory.
The insurer says my back problem is degenerative. Does that end my claim?
No. If your work caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Years of physical labor on road and bridge crews often leave a medical record that supports exactly that conclusion, and strong medical opinion evidence is how these disputes are won.
What if a passing driver hit me in the work zone?
You can generally collect comp benefits and also pursue a personal injury claim against the driver. The comp carrier may seek reimbursement from your third-party recovery, so the two claims have to be managed together. Deadlines for the injury claim differ from comp deadlines.
Does it matter that I worked for a subcontractor or staffing agency?
It can. Identifying the correct employer and insurer determines who pays benefits and whether another contractor on the site may be liable in a separate claim. Bring any paperwork showing who hired and paid you.
If I was partly at fault for the accident, can I still get comp?
Workers’ compensation is generally a no-fault system, so your own carelessness does not by itself defeat a comp claim. Fault matters much more in a third-party injury case, where Mississippi reduces recovery by your share of fault and Louisiana bars recovery if you are 51 percent or more at fault for causes of action arising in 2026 or later.
My treatment was denied in Louisiana. How fast do I have to act?
You have 15 calendar days from written notice of the denial to file a dispute with the Office of Workers’ Compensation on Form 1009. The medical director then has 30 days to decide, and a further appeal of that decision has its own 45-day clock running from issuance. Do not wait.
Will I get paid while my claim is being fought?
If your claim is accepted, wage benefits begin, but a denied or disputed claim can mean weeks or months without checks. That gap is exactly why prompt filing and a fast evidentiary record matter. Talk to us about your options for medical care in the meantime.
What happens if I cannot return to the same heavy work?
If you return at lower pay or cannot do the job at all, you may qualify for supplemental earnings benefits in Louisiana or continued disability benefits in Mississippi. A permanent restriction on lifting or standing can end a road construction career, and that loss of earning capacity is central to a fair settlement.
Serving Roadway and Bridge Workers Across Hinds County and Beyond
We represent highway and bridge workers across Hinds County, including Jackson, Clinton, Byram, Terry, Raymond, Utica, Edwards, Bolton, and Pocahontas, along with neighboring communities in Madison County such as Madison and Ridgeland and in Rankin County. From the interstate and bridge projects around the capital city, our team serves workers statewide in Mississippi, including Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Gulf Coast, the Delta, and north Mississippi.
Our reach extends into Louisiana as well, where we represent injured construction workers in South Louisiana, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles, and in north Louisiana communities such as Shreveport. Wherever a crew is working a bridge deck, a resurfacing job, or a drainage project, we handle comp claims, denied claims and appeals, and related personal injury and wrongful death matters for workers and families in both states.
Talk With a Jackson Highway Worker Attorney Today
If you were hurt on a road or bridge job, the sooner you speak with a Jackson highway and bridge worker attorney, the better your odds of protecting deadlines and benefits. 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 talk through what happened, what the insurer is saying, and what comes next.
