Lockport Personal Injury Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured people in Lockport and across Lafourche Parish, along with the rest of South Louisiana and Mississippi, in workers’ compensation claims and in the personal injury cases that so often grow out of them. A Lockport personal injury lawyer who works for injured people in this part of the state has to understand how Lafourche Parish actually earns its living: shrimp and fishing boats working Bayou Lafourche, oilfield service and offshore support companies, shipyards and fabrication shops, sugarcane operations, and the trucks that haul everything between them on Louisiana Highway 1 and the roads feeding into Raceland, Thibodaux, and Larose.
That economy produces a specific kind of injury case. A deckhand is hurt on a supply vessel, a pipefitter is struck by a negligent driver while hauling equipment, a welder falls on a contractor’s unsafe site, a delivery driver is rear-ended on Highway 1 during a shift. In each of these, the injured person may have a workers’ compensation claim against the employer and a separate personal injury claim against whoever else caused the harm. Getting those two claims to work together, rather than against each other, is much of what a good injury lawyer does in this region.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Lockport Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that also handles car and truck accidents, premises liability, and wrongful death claims for injured people in Louisiana and Mississippi. The firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients. Most lawyers who take comp cases are personal injury generalists who handle a work injury only when one walks in. This firm was built the other way around, which matters for a Lockport worker whose accident involves both an employer and an outside party, because the comp side of the case is where mistakes are most easily made.
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 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. Andrew Rueff has successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict and has argued personal injury and insurance cases before state appellate courts. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The results reflect the kinds of injuries that show up in Lafourche Parish work. 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. Clients describe a team that listens, answers questions, and stays in the fight with the insurance company. Consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of the case, and there is 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.
Injury Claims That Arise Around Lockport Work and Roads
- Truck and Commercial Vehicle Collisions: Oilfield service trucks, sugarcane haulers, and delivery vehicles share Highway 1 and the parish roads with commuters. When a negligent driver hits a worker on the clock, the injured person typically has a comp claim and a third-party liability claim, and both need to be built from the same evidence.
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Lumbar and cervical disc herniations are among the most common injuries in heavy labor and driving jobs. Insurers often blame degenerative disc disease, so the medical record has to show how the work or the crash caused or worsened the condition.
- Burns and Catastrophic Injuries: Plants, rigs, and industrial sites produce severe burns and crush injuries that require specialists, long treatment, and careful valuation of future medical needs and lost earning capacity.
- Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Torn rotator cuffs, SLAP tears, ACL tears, and meniscus tears are routine for deckhands, derrickhands, mechanics, and laborers, and employers sometimes try to recast them as old sports injuries.
- Fractures: Broken feet, ankles, and hips from falls on docks, decks, scaffolding, and wet industrial floors can require surgical repair and extended time away from work.
- Premises Liability: Unsafe conditions at a contractor’s site, a business, or a property owned by someone other than your employer can support a separate claim against the party that controlled the hazard.
- Wrongful Death: When a workplace or roadway accident takes a life, surviving family members may have rights under both the workers’ compensation death benefit system and a wrongful death action against a negligent third party.
What to Do After an Injury in Lafourche Parish
Start with medical care, and be accurate with every provider about how the injury happened. Gaps and vague histories in the first treatment records are what insurers seize on later. If the injury happened at work, report it to your employer promptly. Louisiana law bars a compensation proceeding unless the employer receives notice within thirty days of the injury, and the formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, with a longer window possible when compensation payments have already been made. Written notice is better than a hallway conversation, and you should keep a copy.
If someone other than your employer contributed to the injury, a separate clock applies to that claim. For injuries on or after July 1, 2024, Louisiana’s period for most injury lawsuits is two years from the day the injury was sustained; earlier injuries remain under the former one-year period. Louisiana also now bars recovery entirely for a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, and below that threshold the award is reduced by your share of fault. That makes it risky to give recorded statements to an adjuster or to guess at fault in writing. Photograph the scene, collect witness names, preserve damaged equipment and clothing, and keep a record of missed work.
If your comp insurer denies a medical treatment your doctor recommended, the deadlines are short. A dispute over the denial goes to the Office of Workers’ Compensation through Form 1009, which must be filed within 15 calendar days of receiving written notice of the denial, and the OWC medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide. A party who disagrees with that decision has 45 days from issuance to file Form 1008 under R.S. 23:1203.1. Because the worker chooses where a comp hearing is held, among the parish of the injury, the parish of residence when injured, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business, the venue decision deserves thought early. A workers’ compensation judge’s final judgment can be appealed to the appropriate Louisiana court of appeal, generally within thirty days when the appeal suspends the judgment. Lafourche Parish sits within the First Circuit, and a further application to the Louisiana Supreme Court is possible within 30 days of notice of the First Circuit’s judgment.
Finally, do not accept a quick settlement or sign a release before you know what the injury will cost over the long term. Weekly compensation rates in Louisiana are capped by the date of the accident, supplemental earnings benefits can run for up to 520 weeks, and a third-party recovery can interact with comp reimbursement rights. Signing the wrong paper can quietly cost you benefits.
How the Comp Claim and the Injury Claim Fit Together
A workplace accident involving an outside party is really two cases that share facts. The comp claim pays medical care and wage benefits regardless of fault, which makes it faster and more certain but limited. The third-party claim requires proving someone else’s negligence, but it can compensate for pain, suffering, and loss that comp never touches. The employer’s insurer usually holds a reimbursement interest in what you recover from the outside party, so the order of settlements, the allocation of damages, and the handling of that reimbursement all affect what you actually keep. A Lockport injury attorney who handles both sides can plan the sequence rather than discovering the conflict after one case has closed.
Insurers on both sides run familiar plays. They argue the accident did not happen at work, call the injury pre-existing, push a return to work before the treating doctor clears it, or stop benefits without warning. A pre-existing condition does not automatically end a claim; if the job caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, benefits may still be owed. The answer is medical evidence, consistent witness accounts, and an accurate work history, assembled before the insurer frames the story.
Common Questions About Lockport Injury Claims
Do I need a lawyer for a workplace injury in Lockport?
Not every claim requires one, but if benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or the injury will keep you out of work for a long time, an attorney can change the outcome. The insurer has adjusters and lawyers protecting its position, and you should have someone protecting yours.
How much does it cost to hire the firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of the case, and fees are paid only if benefits or a settlement are recovered. In workers’ compensation cases, attorney fees are also limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report a work injury in Louisiana?
Report it to your employer right away, and within thirty days at the latest. A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the date of injury, though payment of benefits can extend that window to three years from the last payment.
What is the deadline to sue a negligent driver or property owner?
For injuries on or after July 1, 2024, most Louisiana injury suits must be filed within two years of the day the injury was sustained. Older injuries remain under the previous one-year period, so the date of the accident controls which rule applies.
Can I receive workers’ compensation and also sue someone else?
Often yes. Louisiana workers’ compensation limits claims against your own employer, but it does not prevent a claim against a negligent third party such as another driver or a contractor who controlled an unsafe site. The two recoveries must be coordinated because the comp insurer may be entitled to reimbursement.
What if I was partly at fault for my accident?
For causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and a lesser share of fault reduces the award proportionally. Earlier claims remain under pure comparative fault. Workers’ compensation benefits, by contrast, generally do not depend on fault.
My comp insurer denied my surgery. What can I do?
You have 15 calendar days from written notice of the denial to file Form 1009 with the Office of Workers’ Compensation, after which the medical director has 30 calendar days to decide. Missing that short window can seriously weaken your position, so act quickly.
How long can wage benefits last if I cannot return to my old pay?
Supplemental earnings benefits are available when you cannot earn at least 90 percent of your pre-injury wages, and they are calculated as two-thirds of the difference between what you earned before and what you earn or are able to earn now. They can continue until you are released to full duty, return to pre-injury earnings, or reach the 520-week maximum, with temporary total disability weeks counting toward that total.
Will my health insurance cover treatment while my claim is pending?
Comp is supposed to pay reasonable and necessary treatment for a work injury, but delays and denials are common. Some people use health insurance in the meantime, which can create reimbursement issues later. Tell your attorney before you do, so the bills are handled in a way that does not hurt either claim.
Can I be fired for filing a claim?
Louisiana protects workers from retaliation for filing a compensation claim. If you were let go or disciplined after reporting an injury, raise it in your consultation so the timing and circumstances can be reviewed.
What if a family member was killed in an accident?
Louisiana’s wrongful death period is one year from the death or two years from the day the injury was sustained, whichever is longer, and survival actions follow the same rule. A wrongful death claim based on medical malpractice remains limited to one year from death. Family members should speak with a lawyer quickly because these deadlines are unforgiving.
Serving Lockport and Lafourche Parish Injury Clients
Our Lockport injury work begins in the town itself and extends along Bayou Lafourche through Raceland, Mathews, Thibodaux, Larose, Cut Off, Galliano, Golden Meadow, and Chackbay. We represent injured workers and accident victims in neighboring Terrebonne Parish, including Houma, and in surrounding communities across South Louisiana, from Baton Rouge and Lafayette to Lake Charles, with the same attention to the local industries that generate these cases. Our reach also takes in New Orleans and, in the north, Shreveport and the rest of north Louisiana. The firm also serves injured people across Mississippi, from Jackson and Madison to the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi. Whether the injury happened on a vessel, at a plant, on a job site, or on the highway, we can take the case wherever it needs to be heard.
Talk With a Lockport Personal Injury Attorney Today
If you were hurt on the job or in a crash and are weighing a comp claim, an injury claim, or both, a Lockport personal injury attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened, explain the deadlines that apply to you, and tell you plainly where the claim stands. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits or a settlement for you. Call us to talk through your situation, and let us handle the insurance company while you focus on getting better.
